Talks aimed at setting a price for snow crab this season have broken off.
Negotiations between the FFAW and Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) had been ongoing this week against the backdrop of ongoing protests at Confederation Building.
Those protests, which forced a one-day postponement of the budget speech, have been aimed at fixing larger issues in the fishery around outside buyers, plant licences and overall capacity in the industry.
Late Thursday, protest leader John Efford said he had secured a meeting with Fisheries Minister Elvis Loveless this morning, adding demonstrations at Confederation Building would continue “until they see progress.”
As for snow crab, the hope has been that the union and processors could resolve issues that led to last year’s lengthy dispute and tie-up that almost scuttled the season.
But in a statement late Thursday, the FFAW said attempts to agree on a market-based formula have once again stalled.
That means the decision will now be left to the provincial price-setting panel.
The union and ASP have until next Wednesday to develop and submit their submissions.
Meanwhile, the back and forth between the two sides continues.
The ASP yesterday addressed what it calls the “propaganda and misinformation” being spread by the union and harvesters, saying recent behavior defined by “threats, intimidation and harassment” cannot be tolerated.
And they say granting new processing licenses and adding capacity would be bad for the local seafood sector and the province.
The association says more capacity leads to less work for plants, while lifting caps would pit plants and communities against each other.
The FFAW, meanwhile, “adamantly disputes” ASP’s claim that lifting processing caps will harm existing plant workers.
The union says the “vast majority” of fish harvesters in NL have trouble finding a reliable buyer for their catch, adding it’s “a widespread, systemic issue facing the provincial processing landscape.”
The union says harvesters are unable to land their allotted quotas “because the plant they are tied to either refuses to accept it, or can’t buy product due to the caps.”
Combined with “dramatic decreases in prices last year, and similarly dramatic increases in expenses,” the union says inshore owner/operators are at “an acute breaking point” with many facing bankruptcy.