The FFAW has secured a phone discussion with the provincial labour and fisheries ministers to try to find a solution to the disastrously low price set for crab this season.

The $2.20 a pound price was arrived at through a lengthy Final Offer Selection process that included arbitration, but is nearly four dollars less than last year’s price. That, says Fisheries Minister Derrick Bragg who spoke at length with the union earlier this week, represents a huge economic blow.

He says the price was $6.00 a pound last year. “You’re talking about a half a billion dollars down from where it was a year or so ago,” says Bragg.

Final Offer Selection was only reviewed last year, but FFAW President Greg Pretty says it’s clearly not working. Minister Bragg says any discussion about the process itself is outside his wheelhouse, which is where Labour Minister Bernard Davis comes in.

A separate meeting with Premier Andrew Furey is planned for later in the day.