Fish harvesters say they have been short-changed by companies who bought and sold their crab last season, and they want government to step in and right the ship.

The industry fishes at a set price but market fluctuations during the season result in a price correction at the end of the season, a process overseen by Deloitte. This year’s rebate came in at 28 cents per pound.

FFAW President Dwan Street calls that a joke, and says it should have been at least a dollar. The gap works out to about a hundred-million dollars out of the pockets of fishermen.

The union says without a correction, there will be no crab fishery this spring. She blames government and the companies.

“It’s the big five companies – the cartel,” Street told Your VOCM Mornings.

“It is government that has allowed this to happen.”

If they don’t straighten it all out in short order, the FFAW president says they will hit the companies where it hurts most – the pocketbook.

They’re like the food-driven dog, except they’re money driven. Harvesters have control here and it’s unfortunate that it has gotten to this but what happened on the hill a few years ago will look like a birthday party.”

ASP accuses union of setting ‘unrealistic expectations’

Meanwhile, the Association of Seafood Producers says the FFAW created “unrealistic expectations” among its membership that the rebate would exceed $1 per pound.

They say the 28 cent per pound rate is based off a formula that was submitted by the union, accepted by the Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel, and verified by Deloitte.

They argue that if the FFAW had applied market data to their own formula they would have seen that the resulting figure was “far” from the $1 per pound they were promoting.

They say harvesters who are dissatisfied with the final price should direct their concerns to the union executive.