The agreement on crab prices between the FFAW and the companies that buy and process the fish will mean tens of millions of dollars more in the pockets of harvesters this year over what they received two years ago.
The minimum price that the Association of Seafood Producers will pay for crab is $3 per pound, up from the $2.60 previously set for this year by the Price Setting Panel, and 80 cents more per pound than paid two years ago.
The agreement was reached at the eleventh hour as fishery workers were preparing to make their way to Confederation Building to protest.
FFAW President Greg Pretty says the agreement covers a lot of things other than base price and while he hails it as a historic agreement, he acknowledges that not everybody will be happy.
He says they’re dealing with groups that have spent the past six or seven years trying to tear down the union. Pretty says they had representation at the bargaining table on the weekend from every fleet on the bargaining committee.
The Association of Seafood Producers is happy to see the crab fishery resume as a result of the agreement reached on the weekend.
Executive Director Jeff Loder is crediting the progress made on getting all sides together in one place to hammer out the issues.
He says the agreement is consistent with discussions had over the last 14 months, but they made some progress on the weekend “in terms of thinking creatively, and we reached an agreement.”
“The price was never set at $2.60,” says Loder “what was set by the panel was a formula that had a floor of $2.60. Given where the market is, and I communicated this publicly last week, we’re comfortable having the price paid now at $3.00 for this season, and at the end of the year, we will do a reconciliation based on actual receipts, which is an important step.”