The FFAW is speaking out against what they call “cartel-like” behaviour of the province’s fish processing companies.
President Keith Sullivan says there have been coordinated efforts by processing companies to refuse to buy cod and squid. He says their actions are not just illegal, they threaten the very foundation of the province’s coastal communities.
. @FFAW_Unifor President, Keith Sullivan along with numerous harvesters and supporters are speaking out against “cartel-like behaviour” of the province’s fish processing companies.
He says they’re coordinating efforts to refuse to buy species like cod&squid.@VOCMNEWS #nlpoli pic.twitter.com/YL2KGgHeVm
— Ben Murphy VOCM (@BenMurphyVOCM) September 17, 2019
Sullivan says buyers have refused to purchase squid at the negotiated price, even after a new price was set when the provincial Standing Fish Price Setting Panel accepted the Association of Seafood Producers’ (ASP) final offer of a lower price.
He says the ASP insisted on a deduction on the price of squid to account for water-loss—they had a chance to make this argument in front of the arbitration panel, but never did. Now he says for them to claim the squid fishery is in peril because there is no water-loss provision is hypocrisy at its highest degree.
FFAW Inshore Council Vice-President, Tony Doyle says the inadequate capacity to process seafood has cost communities millions of dollars this year alone.
