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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A bitter standoff that shut down Newfoundland and Labrador’s lucrative snow crab fishery for nearly six weeks has come to an end.
The union representing inshore fishers and plant workers says it signed a deal this morning with the province’s seafood processors to start this year’s fishery.
The Fish Food and Allied Workers Union says the deal guarantees crab fishers $2.20 a pound for their catch, as well as incremental price hikes to $2.75 a pound if the market improves.
The price will be re-evaluated if snow crab begins selling on the international market for more than US$6 a pound.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s crab fishery opened in most areas on April 10, but fishers kept their boats tied up to protest the $2.20 a pound offering, which they said was too low to make a living.
Union president Greg Pretty says in a news release that nobody on the union’s bargaining team was happy to sign this morning’s deal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2023.
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