The Association of Seafood Producers says the FFAW is “on the wrong side of the issue” when it comes to cod prices.
The ASP referenced a recent VOCM story in which FFAW President Keith Sullivan called for outside buyers to increase competition in the province as a way to help raise prices.
The executive director of the association, Derek Butler, calls that “misguided” and says it “will undermine the viability of the industry even further.”
He says if cod is sold outside the province, it means less cod for local processors and less work for plant workers and communities.
Butler says cod prices, arbitrated by the Fish Price Setting Panel, is a function of the Canadian dollar and increasing cod supply in international markets. That includes market declines for Barents Sea cod where most cod in the market comes from according to Butler.
He says they can’t make that model work with 200 or 300 wharves, with the dollar as is, and with the competition for whitefish in international markets. Butler says processors can pay top prices when the market commands it, and offered crab as one example.
According to Butler, there isn’t enough cod for local processing facilities, “never mind outside buyers” who he says are not the solution.
More Competition Needed as Fish Price Setting Panel Sets Cod Well Below $1 Per Pound: FFAW
