Snow Crab Stalemate – Price Dispute Shuts Down Valuable N.L. Fishery
A price of $2.20 per pound for snow crab is not sitting well with Newfoundland and Labrador fish harvesters, with the majority showing a willingness to sit this crab season out if prices don’t change.
Harvesters are saying that fishing at $2.20 is unaffordable. This attitude towards the current economic climate was made abundantly clear at a recent rally held at the Confederation Building, Newfoundland’s seat of government, by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW).
The ...
Union Against Oil Spill Tests by DFO in N.L. Waters
Above: A boom used to contain oil spills for the purposes of skimming. Credit: the Canadian Coast Guard
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) is calling for an immediate halt to tests by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) that are set to spill oil and chemical dispersants off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The tests are part of a Multi-Partner Research Initiative (MPRI) that aims to, “advance scientific knowledge and science-based decision ...
FFAW and ASP Turning Over a New Leaf for 2023 Snow Crab Season
Above: (L-R) ASP Executive Director Jeff Loder, ASP Chair Paul Grant, FFAW President Greg Pretty and FFAW Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle. Photo by Nick Travis
In a rare instance of solidarity, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) recently held a joint meeting to announce their cooperation for the 2023 snow crab season.
FFAW President Greg Pretty and Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle, alongside ASP Executive ...
FFAW Launches Seal Awareness Campaign
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) recently launched a nationwide campaign to call attention to seal overpopulation in Atlantic Canada and the devastating effects on fish stocks.
The union representing fish harvesters is calling on the federal government to immediately undertake adequate scientific work to understand the true impact seals are having off eastern Canada’s coasts and to ensure appropriate action is taken to repair the ecosystem imbalance.
“The federal ...
Price Setting Panel Sides with ASP on Summer Shrimp
Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters will now receive a small increase for their shrimp landings, but not the bump their union was seeking.
Earlier this spring, the Newfoundland and Labrador Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel announced that fishermen would be receiving $1/pound this year for their shrimp. The Fish Food and Allied Workers' union (FFAW) had proposed a price of $1.50/pound to the Panel, but instead it chose the price offered by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP).
As a ...
2020 Northern Shrimp Prices Take a Major Hit
Despite Newfoundland and Labrador’s Standing Fish Price Setting Panel siding with the price put forth by harvesters this year, the 2020 season will still be a challenging one.
The panel recently accepted the Fish Food and Allied Workers’ (FFAW-Unifor) price recommendation of $1.18/pound for Northern shrimp landed at the plant and $1.15/pound for trucked shrimp.
Last year, fishermen were paid a minimum price of $1.78/pound. At the time, it represented an 18 per cent increase over the ...
A Cautiously Optimistic N.L. Snow Crab Stock Assessment
FFAW Still Concerned Over Precautionary Approach Framework
For the third year in succession, scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) are painting a somewhat bright, yet cautious, picture for snow crab stocks off Newfoundland and Labrador.
At the recent 2020 annual snow crab technical meeting, DFO reported that despite some stock increases, the overall exploitable biomass remained near historic lows in 2019, but noted that there are some positive signs for future recruit...
FFAW Wants Things its Way on Pricing, Not Transparency
The FFAW has recently been on the bandwagon of transparency in fish price negotiations.
“Fairness and transparency,” it says. If only it were so simple.
The FFAW already has access to production reports from the province, proxies for yield from calculating landed volumes versus production, market reports provided by consultants and international trade media, and export prices from international trade databases.
And it wins most of the price negotiations by a price panel appointed ...
On the Waterfront — August 2019
N.L. Company Building OCI Vessel’s Production Line
Bay Bulls-based C & W Industrial Fabrication and Marine Limited has been sub-contracted to build and install the production line for Ocean Choice International’s (OCI) new groundfish vessel.
Last November, OCI announced the construction of a state-of-the-art, Arctic-class vessel that is expected to create approximately 70 new, full-time, year-round positions and enable the company to provide its workers at sea the safest possible ...
FISH-NL Needs Immediate Funds or Will Fold
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) will close by the end of April and abandon a second attempt at certification unless inshore harvesters step up to the plate and pay their dues.
“I'll say it again, FISH-NL can do this with you, but we can't do it for you,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL.
“The FISH-NL executive is not prepared to lead a second membership drive that’s guaranteed to fail and it will fail without the support of ...
