The provincial government has announced an independent review of the process used to set prices in the fishing industry, which both harvesters and processors contend is broken.

A number of lucrative fisheries, including northern shrimp and snow crab, have all but shut down this year due to disputes over the prices set by the Fish Price Setting Panel which uses final-offer selection to determine the price for each fishery.

This year, harvesters are either tying up their boats or seeking out markets outside the province, while in other cases, processors have refused to buy at the prices set.

The price paid for shrimp in Nova Scotia and Quebec is 50 per cent greater than the price set in NL according to the FFAW.

Ocean Choice International in Port aux Choix has decided to pay prices for shrimp above the 90 cents set, and conversations are underway with local harvesters. OCI says it will pay a price for shrimp that is competitive with what is “out in the market.”

The Minister Responsible for Labour, Bernard Davis, has appointed former chair of the Labour Relations Board, David Conway to conduct the review.

SEA-NL which represents enterprise owners is applauding the review into the final offer selection system for fish pricing.

FFAW President Keith Sullivan says the real underlying issue causing many of the problems seen today is what he says is a lack of competition among buyers.

He accused the Association of Seafood Producers of trying to “sabotage” the collective bargaining process.

He cites the Fish Price Setting Panel’s comments regarding recent squid pricing negotiations.

“The panel is disappointed and concerned with respect to how the 2022 squid negotiations unfolded,” reads Sullivan, “noting that ASP refused to engage in meaningful discussions on price and conditions of sale, despite a request by the FFAW. The panel believes this undermines the Final Offer Selection Process which is designed to bring parties close together in their offers prior to a hearing.”

Association of Seafood Producers Executive Director Derek Butler welcomes the review, calling the fish price setting process “broken.”

He says fish price negotiations are adversarial in their very nature and while the ASP has been accused of upsetting the process, Butler says blame also lies with the fisheries union.

Butler says ASP has tried to sit down and talk about setting prices on sea cucumber and capelin, but the union wouldn’t talk. He says tens of millions of dollars in crab wasn’t landed this year because while the processors wanted to pace the fishery to ensure quality, the union was capitalizing on harvesters wanting to land product before the price adjusted downward. “When we were crying fire,” says Butler “the union were [sic] saying ‘bring the gas’.”