Hundreds of Newfoundland fishermen protest prices, pressing minister for changes
Fishermen from across the Avalon Peninsula took their complaints and concerns about pricing for this year's inshore fishery straight to Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg in St. John's on Monday, with a concurrent protest happening in Corner Brook.
Members of the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union say they aren't happy with the price they're getting for their product, how those prices are set, and the level of fairness they're getting from processing companies.
"We've tried to have conversations, discussions, use logic, but nothing seems to be working," union president Keith Sullivan said Monday at Confederation Building in St. John's, where protesters rallied.
"I think we're here to send a loud message. And if people didn't get it in meetings, they're going to damn well get the message today.… We want some fairness in setting prices. That means real competition. That means transparency in setting prices."
WATCH | Protesters head to the mic to air their concerns to Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg:
Hundreds voiced their anger and concerns outside Confederation Building, much of it addressed at Bragg, who addressed the crowd.
"You want someone to blame, so put it on the shoulders of the man who carries the position of minister of fisheries. I saw someone down there with a sign that said 'Support Rural Newfoundland.' I said that's me. I live it," Bragg told the crowd.
"I would invite the hecklers to come up and take the microphone, 'cause I have big shoulders."
One heckler told Bragg "diddly-squat" has been done to help the fishery in decades, to which Bragg responded, "That's not fair to say."
"It is fair to say," said the protester. "I've been at this 40 years. I haven't seen one bloody difference."
'Harvesters still need a fair price'
On the other side of the island, another 150 FFAW members held a demonstration in the parking lot of the provincial Sir Richard Squires Building in Corner Brook.
Doretta Strickland, a Triton plant worker and member of the FFAW executive, was one of the several speakers who rallied the crowd with the message that the province must step in to ensure prices for the harvesters are fair.
"We need a decision, but on the other hand, the fish harvesters still need a fair price," she said. "You don't expect them to go out and get $7.60, what the companies wants to pay, and in other provinces gets $12. They're not going to stand for that."
Winning, to the harvesters, is a fair price for snow crab, she said. However, the Association of Seafood Producers' challenge of former longtime FFAW president Earle McCurdy on the province's pricing panel has enraged many union members.
"[ASP] waited until the last day that the panel was going to make a decision on what the price would be, and they came in and made a motion to remove Earle McCurdy from the panel, which was really disrespectful for all of us — no respect whatsoever," Strickland said.
For fish harvesters like Conway Caines, the $12 per pound in Cape Breton this season is proof enough harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador deserve more than last year's $7.60 a pound.
The Port Saunders man said he managed to get by in 2021 but said that price isn't good enough given the higher cost of living this season.
"I ain't got no big quotas. I got enough to pay me instalments, feed me family and try to give me crew a decent share."
He figures $10.75 in Newfoundland and Labrador is fair, but while the Association of Seafood Producers is offering $7.60 again, the FFAW has countered with $9.05, with the province's pricing panel required to make a decision by Wednesday.
'Not sure what else there is to give': head of producers' association
Derek Butler, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers — an industry trade association in Newfoundland and Labrador that represents more than two dozen seafood processing companies — said Monday's demonstrations have little to do with prices and everything to do with the association's challenge of McCurdy as a member of the pricing panel.
"They see that slipping away, possibly, in response to our legal challenge, and so they're going to fight to keep him on the panel," he said. "It's not about the other stuff, I don't think."
Butler said the producers he represents only take in only 30 per cent of the value of fish products and harvesters stand to profit more than they're letting on.
"I think we have healthy competition in the industry, resources have been declining so the number of processors has declined but Newfoundland harvesters take 70 per cent of the market and I'm not sure what else there is to give," he said.
"If you stand in their way [they say] 'they're scumbags.' That's what's being said in public discourse today about me, which is ridiculous."
