Stella Maris Kaohsiung

18/03/2026

Breaking fast with the fishers, seafarers, and our lovely volunteers.

23/02/2026

年前，興達港穆斯林祈禱室的漁工們，犧牲了自己休息時間，協助海星盤點整個港口外籍漁工的衣服尺寸，以便我們可以比較有效率地發放外套與其他禦寒配件。

興達港的穆斯林祈禱室「Musholla Al-Falah」以貨櫃組合而成，成立十多年來，已成為茄萣地區伊斯蘭教友的信仰中心。去年漁工們跟中心求助，希望可以協助解決祈禱室的用電問題。經過漁業署安排會勘、行文等行政作業，祈禱室終於在半年後裝設了電表。再次感謝漁業署、興達港漁會、高雄市政府海洋局等單位促成。

30/12/2025

在每年歲末的11月、12月，中心的夥伴們忙碌地整理善心民眾捐贈的冬衣、發送至各港口外，同時也如往年籌辦世界漁業日（World Fisheries Day）與聖誕節的慶祝活動，並邀請外籍漁工、志工夥伴、與相關單位一同與會，這除了是感謝各界對漁工議題的關注，也為了向所有在海洋中拼搏的外籍漁工致敬。

在世界漁業日的慶祝活動上，除了有在旗津、蚵仔寮沿近海漁船工作的漁工們前來，我們也邀請了前鎮漁港、小港漁港的魷魚船船員們一起聚會。許多年輕的魷魚船船員，是來自菲律賓、北蘇門答臘與東印尼島嶼的基督徒、天主教徒，船員們提到，因為魷魚船通常在11月底、12月初就得啟程前往福克蘭群島，所以大家的聖誕節都只能在水路上度過。好在李神父與教友們11月就開始進行聖誕節佈置，讓魷魚船的船員們可以提前感受聖誕氣息。

今年海星的聖誕節，由中山大學的留學生們與移工們合力發想劇本、一起演出的話劇《騎樓》（Teras Rumah）揭開序幕。《騎樓》描述著一位印尼看護工與她照顧的阿嬤在騎樓下與其他移工、留學生、雇主、仲介的相遇，內容呈現了移工被雇主要求做許可外工作、信仰自由被剝奪、超時工作、遠洋漁工無法通訊等現實處境。劇末，參與演出的移工、留學生與中心主任阮神父一齊講述自己的願景，希望移工們勇於為自己的權益發聲。

今年的聖誕節活動，有KDEI Taipei駐台北印尼經濟貿易代表處專員Agustina Setyaningsih、農業部漁業署尤嵐龍科長、以及兩年來持續贈與外籍漁工冬衣與物資的慈濟基金會出席，此外還有東港、鹽埔、蚵仔寮、彌陀、旗津等漁港六十多位印尼、菲律賓、越南漁工前來前來與會。而自澳洲遠道而來Nacio神父（Fr. Martin Ignacio Gutierrez Rodriguez, CS, Provincial Superior of St. Frances Cabrini Province）也與所有來賓同坐欣賞話劇演出。

印尼海員同鄉聯誼會-屏東縣漁工職業工會（Fospi Donggang PingtungFOSPI-PMFU）理事長Rojani致辭時提到包容異己與團結的重要性。而蚵寮海陸工人社（Paguyuban Laut-Pabrik Ewaliao Ziquan Mushola Ar Rasyid Ziguan）除了細說漁工與廠工協力租下港邊的鐵皮屋，為蚵仔寮的穆斯林手足提供祈禱空間的歷程，也強調漁工們對港口浴廁設施的需求。在台灣的許多漁港，早已形成規模不一的移工社群，而其中有許多即是像東港、蚵仔寮的印尼漁工一樣，以信仰為號召，才慢慢發展起來的社群。

除了籌備話劇演出，我們也把今年到各個港口訪視漁工、發送物資、舉辦教育、休閒、倡議等活動的照片印出來展示。海星今年一共走訪了、高雄、屏東、台東與澎湖等地約25個港口。漁工們每一次的聚會與分享，都讓我們感受到他們無私的慷慨，而這也提醒著我們，外籍漁工值得被尊重與善待。在接下來新的一年，我們將持續我們的服務，與各漁工社團爭取淋浴間、廁所、祈禱室等岸上設施、調漲境外聘用船員薪資、以及遠洋漁工的通訊權Wi-Fi Now for Fishers’ Rights at Sea。

感謝印尼海員同鄉聯誼會-屏東縣漁工職業工會FOSPI-PMFU、蚵寮海陸工人社LP、旗津海員會OPC（Organisasi Pelaut Cijin）、彌陀漁工團結會STB（Solidaritas Tanpa Batas）、東港清真寺（Masjid An-Nur Tongkang）等漁工社團代表的蒞臨。我們也要特別感謝中山大學的國際學生、KITAS（台灣印尼天主教學生社團）的志工夥伴、高雄市勞工博物館、人道團結基金會（Humanity United）的支持，這場活動才得以順利舉辦。

每一次的道別，都是為了下一次相聚。祝福所有移工、漁工與船員健康、平安，期待返航時再見。聖誕、新年快樂。

Every year in November and December, Stella Maris’ staff are busy sorting and distributing donated winter clothes to several fishing ports. As in previous years, we also organize World Fisheries Day and Christmas & New Year celebrations. We invite migrant fishers and seamen, volunteers, and other organizations or institutions to participate. This is not only to express our gratitude for the concern to fishers’ issues but also to pay tribute to all hard working migrant fishers and seamen.

At the World Fisheries Day celebrations, besides the territorial fishers from Cijin and Kezailiao, we also invited squid jiggers crews from Qianzhen and Xiaogang fishing ports to join the gathering. Many of the young squid jiggers crews are Christians and Catholics from the Philippines, North Sumatra, and Eastern Indonesian islands. Some fishers mentioned that because their vessels usually have to leave for Falkland at the end of November or the beginning of December, they can only spend their Christmas on the way to Falkland at sea. However, fortunately, Fr. Li and the parishioners began Christmas decorations in early November, so that these fishers could enjoy the Christmas atmosphere earlier before they left Kaohsiung.

This year's Christmas & New Year celebration at Stella Maris began with the play “Teras Rumah” (The Home Terrace) , a collaborative work created by international students of NSYSU and migrant workers. “Teras Rumah” is a story about the encounters of an Indonesian caregiver and the elderly lady who she looks after with other migrant workers, international students, employers, and even the manning agencies under the home terrace. This play tried to portray the realities faced by migrant workers, including being forced to take additional work without government’s permission, the deprivation of their freedom of religion, excessive working hours, and the lack of communication equipment for distant water fishers. At the end of the play, the migrant workers, international students, and Fr. Trinh, the director of Stella Maris Kaohsiung, shared their own vision, hoping that all the migrant workers would be brave to speak out for their own rights.

This event was attended by Agustina Setyaningsih, the analyst from the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (IETO); Lan-Long Yu, Section Chief of the Fisheries Agency, Ministry of Agriculture; and the Tzu Chi Foundation, which has been donating winter clothes and goods to migrant fishers for the past two years. More than sixty Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam fishers from fishing ports including Donggang, Yanpu, Kezailiao, Mituo, and Cijin also participated. Father Nacio (Fr. Martin Ignacio Gutierrez Rodriguez, CS, Provincial Superior of St. Frances Cabrini Province), who came far from Australia, also joined all the guests to watch the performance.

Rojani, Chairman of Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia - Pingtung Migrant Fishers Union (FOSPI-PMFU) promoted the value of tolerance and unity between the workers. The representative of Paguyuban Laut-Pabrik Ewaliao Ziquan (LP) shared about how fishers and factory workers collaborated to rent tin-roofed houses at the port to provide a prayer space for their Muslim community in Keziliao. They also emphasized the fishers’ need for facilities such as shower rooms and toilets at the port. At many fishing ports in Taiwan, migrant workers’ communities have existed for years, many of which, like the Indonesian fishers in Donggang and Keziliao, have gradually developed based on mutual religion.

Besides the play, we also printed and displayed pictures of all our visitations at the fishing ports, and the other activities such as clothes and goods distribution, education, recreation, and advocacy as well. This year, we have visited approximately 25 fishing ports in Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, and Penghu. Each encounter and sharing from the fishers makes us feel their great generosity, and reminds us that migrant fishers deserve to be respected and treated well. In the coming year, we will continue our services and collaborate with migrant fishers’ communities to raise the advocacy on port facilities such as shower rooms, toilets, and prayer rooms, increasing the minimum wage of LG fishers, and last but not least, fishers’ rights of communication - WiFi for fishers’ right at sea.

We appreciate the participation of FOSPI-PMFU (Donggang-Yanpu-Liuqiu ports), LP (Keziliao port), OPC (Organisasi Pelaut Cijin, Cijin port), STB (Solidaritas Tanpa Batas, Mituo port), and the Donggang Mosque (Masjid An-Nur Tongkang). We would like to extend our special thanks to our volunteers - international students from NSYSU and KITAS (Indonesian Catholic students’ community in Taiwan), also to the Kaohsiung Museum of Labor and Humanity United for their support.

Every farewell is for the reunion in the future. We wish all migrant workers, fishers and seamen good health and safety, and we look forward to their next return from the sea. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

22/10/2025

Last week, we brought fishers goods and secondhand clothes from all over Taiwan at Qianzhen port. We appreciate Tzu Chi Foundation’s concern for migrant fishers. Special thanks to our brothers from POT (Persatuan Orang Timur) community.

06/09/2025

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino seafarers continue to suffer from abandonment and abuse due to their fear of losing their job if they speak up. During the three-day International Conference on

12/07/2025

Message for Sea Sunday 2025 from Stella Maris Scalabrinian Catholic Network.

08/07/2025

Each year, on Sea Sunday, the global Church turns its gaze toward the vast oceans and the millions of men and women who live and work upon them. This day is an important reminder of the essential yet often hidden role of seafarers in our interconnected world. Their labor ensures the steady flow of g...

03/06/2025

在興達港，由漁具倉庫改建的穆斯林祈禱室，除了服務著一百多位時常在此出入的印尼穆斯林漁工，十多年來也已成為茄萣一帶穆斯林移工的信仰中心，如前陣子開齋節前來參加會禮的教友超過三百人。上週漁業署、高雄市海洋局、興達港區漁會與海星一起到祈禱室會勘，並討論未來整合淋浴間、祈禱室與其他港口設施的可能性。感謝相關單位的關心，也希望祈禱室的用電問題可以盡早被解
決。�

At Xingda Fishing Port, there is a muslim prayer room renovated by Indonesian fishers. This prayer room was used to be a fishing gear warehouse, nowadays it not only serves more than one hundred Indonesian fishers, but it also plays an important role for those migrants who are muslims from nearby communities. For example, not long ago, there were more than three hundred people came for the Eid al-Fitr prayer. Last week, the Fisheries Agencies (Ministry of Agriculture), Marine Bureau (Kaohsiung City Government), Xingda Fishing Port District Fishermen’s Association and Stella Maris Kaohsiung visited fishers’ prayer room and discussed about the public facilities in the coming future. We appreciate all these officials’ concern, and hope the electricity issue at the prayer room could be solved as soon as possible.

23/05/2025

A couple of days ago, we visited several fishing ports and migrant fishers’ communities in Penghu. We brought them goods such as instant noodles and toiletries, listened to their sharings, and provided them with education about grievance mechanisms and their rights as migrant workers.

We appreciate that at the fishing ports like Fengkuei and Suogang, the local authorities provide shower rooms and toilets for the fishers. However, at some big ports where we visited like Waian and Neian, fishers have been waiting for that for years, and needless to say, at those small and remote fishing ports on Penghu islands, there are not even appropriate facilities at all.

We visited the Baitul Muslimin Mosque (Masjid Baitul Muslimin, PCINU Ranting Penghu), and met an old friend and his fellows there. This moment reminds me of when we visited fishers’ “floating mosque”( a prayer room inside a fishing vessel) for the first time before pandemic. It’s phenomenal to see that migrant fishers finally build and own a space for prayers on their own.

We also visited OPIB, the regional organization established 10 years ago by migrant workers from Pemalang Regency, Central Java. OPIB’s members shared about their mission and vision, how this organization helps its members who experience difficulties such as work contracts being terminated without fishers’ agreement, being abused mentally and physically by the employers, being intimidated to be deported by brokers, being starving and need to beg for food from the other fishers because their employers and brokers don’t want to take responsibility.

We identify that most of the fishers we met have only 1 or 2 days off a year, basically 1 day during Lunar New Year holidays, and some lucky ones can get another day off on Al-Fitr.

The problem of “unpaid leave” is also easy to be recognized. At one of the fishing ports we visited, 13 fishers from 18 fishers in total at this port were asked to take 3 months of unpaid leave, because the employers are not capable of paying the wages during the off season of fishing. Fishers who have worked less than 2.5 years have to pay all the travel charges by themselves (employers will pay half of the travel charges for their employees who have worked for more than 2.5 years). However, fishers’ brokers asked to pay 30,000NTD for the flight tickets to/from Indonesia, which is much higher than normal price. Migrant fishers only have 12 years to work in Taiwan, except for those who are applied to become the intermediate-skilled workers, however, this “unpaid leave” system will deplete migrant fishers’ number of work years. We hope government officals have to think about it seriously, because the phenomenon not only shows employers’ and brokers’ irresponsibility, but it also harms the rights of migrant fishers.

前幾天，我們走訪了澎湖的幾個漁港和外籍漁工的社群。我們帶了泡麵、盥洗用品等物資給漁工、聽他們的分享、並為他們提供申訴機制與移工相關權益的資訊。

我們感謝像是風櫃、鎖港等漁港已有地方政府提供的淋浴間及廁所。然而，在我們造訪的一些大港口，如外垵、內垵等港口，外籍漁工仍年復一年地盼望能有這些設施，更不用說那些本島及外島地處偏遠的小漁港，很多甚至連適當的盥洗設施都沒有。

我們拜訪了拜圖爾穆斯林清真寺（Masjid Baitul Islamin，PCINU Ranting Penghu）。在那裡遇到了一位老朋友與他的漁工夥伴。我想起了新冠肺炎疫情前，我們第一次到漁工的利用閑置漁船建造的「水上清真寺」，看到現在漁工終於建立並擁有自己的祈禱空間，這真是令人讚嘆。

我們還參觀了OPIB這個十年前由中爪哇省佩瑪朗的移工建立的組織。OPIB 的成員分享了他們的使命和願景、分享了他們如何幫助遇到困難的成員，例如被迫解約、遭受雇主肢體及精神虐待、被仲介威脅遣返、或是雇主和仲介不願負責而被迫挨餓或不得不向其他漁工乞討食物等問題。

我們相遇的漁工大部分一年只有一、兩天的休假，基本上是春節期間休假一天，幸運的一點的漁工可以在開齋節獲得一天的假期。

再者，漁工被迫放無薪假的問題也很常見。在其中一個我們拜訪的港口，整個港口18個漁工，有13個被要求放三個月的無薪假，只因為雇主無力在漁獲淡季支付漁工薪水。工作年資不滿兩年半的漁工，得自行負擔全額交通費（而年資超過兩年半的漁工，雇主會負擔一半費用），但仲介代購往返印尼機票費用索價三萬台幣，這遠遠高於一般機票的售價。除非是已經申請為中階移工的漁工，一般漁工最多只能在台灣工作十二年，但這種放無薪假的狀況，著實消耗著一般外籍漁工的工作年限。我們希望政府單位能認真看待該問題，因為這種現像不僅反映了雇主與仲介業者的不負責任，也損害了外籍漁工的權益。

21/02/2025

10/02/2025

Last week, we brought new jackets to Cijin for the Indonesian and Fpilipino fishers. Thank the Buddhist Tzu-Chi Charity Foundation for donating jackets.
上週中心到旗津發送外套給印尼及菲律賓船員。感謝慈濟基金會捐贈外套。