Research On Social Insurance Issues Of Coastal Fishermen In Fujian

Fishery, one of the oldest and riskiest businesses in human history, threats the lives of those who try to live on it. Throughout history, fishermen have to fight to survive on the daunting sea. However, there are other issues concerning today’s fishermen. On the one hand, the current agricultural insurance system pays more attention to fishery production rather than social insurance; on the other hand, the social insurance system that suits fishermen has not yet been fully established.Taking Xiapu County in Fujian Province as a typical case, this paper studies the current fishermen’s social insurance issues. Methodology applied to understand the basic characteristics of fishermen in Xiapu County includes literature research, field surveys, and case study, etc. Main characteristics of this population include the complexity of demographics within the group, the prevalence of young labor and low labor quality, the lack of regulation of labor relations and awareness of social insurance, and the incompleteness of social support system, etc. The current social insurance system is not well established in terms of protecting fishermen’s interest, resulting in multiple issues, such as fragmented insurance system, low customer satisfaction, and limited responsibility on the part of employers.Given the status quo of the social insurance for fishermen, this paper applies the four-factor analysis to investigate the causes of current problems and categorizes them into four aspects. First of all, the policy formulation and advocacy of social insurance system is incomplete. Secondly, in the process of policy implementation, the government shows inadequate understanding about the characteristics of the fishermen group. Thirdly, there has been a lack of involvement on the part of fishery associations and employers. Lastly, the flexibility and adaptability of the policy cannot meet the demands of the fishermen group.Additionally, this paper draws on some successful experiences in social insurance from other domestic fishery. First of all, the key learning on the pension system from Zhejiang Province contains three approaches including "combination of pension and subsidized collective assets system", "freedom of participation in pension system", and "referring to the pension system for’landless’farmers". Secondly, additional learning can be taken from the worked-related injury and medical insurance system from Hainan Province and Taiwan Province that mainly focuses on the legislation and the level of claims. Lastly, more can be learned from the unemployment insurance from Xiamen City and Lianyungang City that advertises removing restrictions on residency registration and professions and combining the compensation and training system.Measures about relevant institutional improvement are proposed from three aspects at the end of this article:objects identification, funding sources and establishment of administrative body. Firstly, as to object identification, factors such as age, income, and position should be taken into account to categorize the fishermen population into different subgroups, of which specific demands should later be reflected in the design of the system. Secondly, in terms of financing for social insurance, it is critical that the variety of participants be emphasized by involving not only fishermen as the main funding source but also local government and fishery employers as the additional sources of financial support. Thirdly, in the establishment of administrative body, fishery associations should take advantage of their expertise and successful experience so as to play a fundamental role in reconstructing the social insurance system for fishermen.