Above: John Efford Jr., flanked by FFAW President Greg Pretty (Left) and FFAW Secretary Treasurer Jason Spingle (Right), address the crowd of harvesters after their meeting with Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Minister Elvis Loveless.
Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters won what they considered a major victory in late March, only for their enthusiasm to be dashed by what they see as another year of disappointing snow crab prices.
Now, facing a minimum price of $2.60 per pound under a formula crafted by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) has elected not to fish until harvesters earn what they consider a fair market value.
In early March, harvesters, led by Port de Grave harvester John Efford Jr., gathered at the provincial legislature with a simple message: Free Enterprise.
Efford and his cohorts, in seeking what they deemed free enterprise, wanted the ability to sell their catch to processors outside of the province. Efford, the son of well-known former provincial fisheries minister John Efford Sr., said that corporate control in the province’s processing sector has fostered a lack of competitive pricing for harvesters’ in N.L.
With a 2024 total allowable catch (TAC) of 57,586 tonnes, Efford claimed that local processors don’t have the capacity to process the volume of crab, necessitating bringing in out-of-province buyers.
“We’ve got no processors that we can go to compete with what’s here, because we’re not allowed off the island. There’s not enough capacity on the island to take care of the product that we have to catch now, and the government policies are supporting the cartel,” said Efford.
The demonstration started small, consisting of Efford and around 50 protesters. Over time, the movement gained momentum, resulting in around 1,000 protesters gathered around the legislature at a time when the N.L. government was slated to deliver its 2024 budget.
Tempers flared as government workers were turned away at the building’s doors and an incident between a mounted police unit and harvesters resulted in injuries for one harvester and one officer. Mounting tensions between the protesters, police and government prompted Premier Andrew Furey to hold a press conference alongside Fisheries Minister Elvis Loveless and Minister of Justice and Public Safety John Hogan.
“I am profoundly disappointed today that the behaviour of a few could take over and jeopardize a budget that is for the entire province,” said Furey.
In conjunction with this press conference, an injunction was issued from the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ordering protesters to allow safe access to the Confederation Building. Minister Loveless, however, extended an olive branch, saying he would hear out the demands of the harvesters.
“We’ve met, I would say, all of the requests, and we’ve moved on things like outside buyers,” said Loveless. “We’ll continue to have discussions with the FFAW. We’ve also talked about a fulsome review, and we’ve asked for their direct input into that review, and I look forward to those ongoing discussions and what will come of that.”
By the next day, protesters were met with a line of riot gear-clad police as progress in resolving the protest came to a standstill.
With talks of a meeting between the government, Efford and FFAW representatives, harvesters were instructed to gather off the grounds of the legislature the next day.
Just after noon on Friday, March 21, Efford arrived alongside FFAW President Greg Pretty and Secretary Treasurer Jason Spingle. The trio stood in the box of a pickup truck as hundreds of Efford’s supporters gathered to hear the outcome of the meeting.
“We have outside buyers, unlimited access,” said Efford to thunderous applause. “There’s going to be a committee set up to police the changes that are going to be made to make sure they’re going to be made the right way, and I made sure that I’m going to be on that committee.”
Beyond the announcement of opening the province to outside buyers and the establishment of a committee to oversee the transition to this new model, Efford said the committee will have “absolute” control over the raising of processing capacity to ensure the sector does not come under “corporate control.”
Efford also promised that a new processing license within the province will be announced this week, with official confirmation of all these new changes from the provincial government within five business days.
Efford also announced a resolution by government to conduct an in-depth review of corporate concentration within the fishery.
“We got ‘er done,” said Efford, fighting back tears. “We’re moving forward, we’ve got a plan in place, we’ve got a commitment from our provincial government to move forward with free enterprise. The change that we have now today and the commitment for change is good. Moving forward, there’s going to be some hiccups and bumps, but I know we have the mechanism in place to take care of it.”
Previous to Efford’s announcement, the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) weighed in on the issue through a press release warning that granting new processing licenses and increasing processing capacity would have “…detrimental impacts on the local seafood processing sector, and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
“Additional capacity decreases employment for plant workers. It slices the same size pie into additional pieces and the result is each worker gets less of the pie. The issuance of new processing licenses or the lifting of current caps would result in work being transferred between processing facilities and communities — it does not achieve new employment opportunities,” said the processor representative. “The harvesters’ hope is that it results in a higher price for them without reference to what the export market will bear. The result is a destruction of value for the province overall.”
As the free enterprise protests wrapped up, negotiations were still ongoing between the FFAW and ASP over crab prices. Prior to the start of price negotiations, the provincial government commissioned a formula drafted by an independent team comprised of Glen Blackwood, Gabriel Gregory and William Broderick.
The resulting pricing methodology, which came to be known as the Blackwood formula, was rejected by both parties in favour of their own market-based formulas.
The provincial price-setting panel ultimately rejected the FFAW’s formula, which closely mirrored the original Blackwood formula, in favour of ASP’s formula. This decision set the floor price of snow crab in Newfoundland at $2.60 per pound, with any increase in price being based on the Urner Barry crab prices of five-to-eight-ounce crab. Should the Urner Barry price meet or rise above $7.43 CAD, then the formula will calculate the raw material price based on market prices.
ASP argued in price negotiations that its formula provides risk mitigation to harvesters, while also providing harvesters with more than 50 per cent of the market price. The FFAW said that these claims are untrue in a recent press statement.
“ASP’s formula is not based on historic data, nor was justification found within their submission document,” claimed the union. “Moreover, there is no mechanism for harvesters to benefit as the market increases. ASP caps harvester share at 37 per cent once the market reaches $8.02 CAD, contrary to historic pricing shares that increases the harvester share as market prices increase.”
The panel’s decision did not sit well with the FFAW, with harvesters expressing their “inability to fish under the pricing system selected by the Panel.” This frustration with the price-setting panel and the ASP, according to Pretty, may well result in harvesters refusing to fish unless their market share increases.
“Crab harvesters fully understand the importance of their business to their families and their communities,” said Pretty. “This injustice must be corrected, and we expect that harvesters will support leadership’s position to not fish.”
With the prospect of outside buyers in the province now on the table, Efford took to Facebook to address the pricing decision.
“Keep your gear where it is,” wrote Efford. “Perhaps our out of province buyers can rectify this problem? I will be on my phone tomorrow! You should too!”
At the Navigator’s press time, it was still uncertain how many harvesters, if any, would be heading to the crab grounds.
