Price setting panel sets snow crab at $2.20 per pound — down over $5 from 2022 season
The price of snow crab has been set at $2.20 per pound in Newfoundland and Labrador, a dramatic dropoff from last season's price in the province's most lucrative fishery.
The price was chosen by a government-appointed price setting panel, and was submitted by the Association of Seafood Producers.
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, which represents Newfoundland and Labrador's inshore fishermen, had asked the panel for a price of $3.10, and say fishing at $2.20 per pound is unsustainable.
FFAW president Greg Pretty said crab committees throughout the province have decided not to fish at $2.20 per pound, and will review their stance in the coming weeks.
"The Panel's decision today has put our industry in the most precarious situation it's ever been in," Pretty said in a news release Thursday.
"People can't fish at $2.20. They can't hire crew, they can't generate enough to pay business loans, insurance, purchase fuel or bait, and still break even at the end of the day. When it comes to dollars and cents, this catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium."
The fishery was the province's most valuable a year ago, with prices nearing $8 per pound at the start of last season. Demand for the product has collapsed in international markets, however, which led to a steep drop in price.
A price-setting panel was established after months of negotiations between the FFAW and ASP failed to produce an agreeable pricing formula.
The FFAW had first asked the panel for $3.48 per pound, and lowered their second offer to $3.10, the news release said. The Association of Seafood Producers first countered with $2.18, followed by a two-cent increase that was chosen by the panel.
Pretty says the decision to side with the ASP takes money out of the pockets of fishing communities and harvesters who will feel the greatest impact of a lower price.
The pricing panel had put negotiations on hold for a time after about 100 snow crab fishermen made their presence felt at the first meeting in March. They were protesting quota allocations and the precautionary approach implemented by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in December.
The protest centred around Zone 3L, ranging from Conception Bay to St. Mary's Bay as far as Bonavista Bay, which was divided into two different biomasses under the precautionary approach.
