The Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel sided with harvesters on June 21 when it agreed to a proposal from Newfoundland and Labrador shrimp fishermen to increase the minimum price to $1.25/pound, up from the original 2017 price of $.95/pound set in April.
The bump amounts to a 31.5% increase and is the minimum price for all shrimp sizes landed this summer, which range from two grams and up.
Processors, represented by the Association of Seafood Producers, had proposed a price of $1.04/pound.
The price increase was a small victory for fishermen in otherwise difficult shrimp season.
Earlier this year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced a 63 per cent cut to the inshore northern shrimp quota in fishing area 6 – meaning the total allowable catch for SFA 6 went from 48,196 tonnes in 2015 to 27,825 tonnes in 2016, to 10,400 tonnes announced for 2017.
This amounts to a 78 per cent quota reduction over two years.
