The union that represents fish harvesters in the province wants to know why there was such a big gap in snow crab prices last year when compared with the Maritimes.

FFAW president Dwan Street is in Boston this week for the annual Seafood Expo North America.

She says snow crab prices for this year are looking good so far, and she is hoping to speak with others in the industry about how they are thinking the season is going to shape up.

That is important, according to Street, because of what she says was a significant gap in snow crab prices last year.

She says the price gap is usually between 10 and 40 cents, but last year it was $1.06 when reporting first started happening. Ultimately, she says that gap resulted in harvesters being short-changed at the end of the season.

The Association of Seafood Producers says price differences between regions are nothing new. The processors say an independent report commissioned by government recently clearly outlines the market realities at play which directly influence price outcomes, and are not factors that can be addressed through negotiations alone.

Street says understanding what happened with the price will be key, noting that they should be in line with prices in the Maritimes.

“And if we’re not, I mean we’ve got significant issues.” She says what they hear at the seafood show, and how the provincial government responds to some of their asks, will determine what negotiations look like. Street states that the union is “not interested in sitting with ASP, and we’re not interested in going with the price-setting panel any more. We need to get back to traditional collective bargaining and hammer out a price that is going to be fair for everybody.”

The ASP says the collective bargaining framework is a legislated process, and any changes would require consultation and agreement with them.