Value of Newfoundland and Labrador's fishery raising questions

By Aaron Beswick

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

The landed value of Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishery reached some $500-million in 2007.

But the big story was a 6.2 per cent increase in snow crab landings that, combined with a 50-60 cent per pound price increase, created a 70 per cent surge in the crab fishery’s value to harvesters. Shrimp landings were up over 6.8 per cent with modest price increases late in the season.

The lower American dollar, meanwhile, offset some of the gains to both harvesters and processors. Shrimp and crab are pillars of the Northern Peninsula’s economy.

“We have placed a great deal of focus on addressing the issues in the industry and I am pleased to see these efforts are beginning to pay off,” stated Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout in a press release.

It’s the type of comment that turns David Cassell’s stomach. The owner of the 65-foot dragger Ocean’s Friend thinks Rideout shouldn’t see things so rosy.

“When a crewman looks and sees he’s only made $7,000-8,000 in a summer…I tell you, that’s rough,” said Cassell. “We’re driving away our own crews.”

Cassell wants outside buyers allowed into the province to drive prices up.

“We’re not asking to ship product off the Island – we’re asking to survive in the fishing industry,” he said. “Here we are on a rock with half a dozen buyers that have banded together to down the price of our raw material.”

Fishermen have been asking the province to lift the ban prohibiting fishermen from selling their product out of province for decades. They contend the province keeps quiet on the issue, the processors demand the status quo and the union, tasked with representing both fishermen and plant workers, rides the fence. There were no changes to the regulations in this spring’s fishing industry renewal package.

While Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ (FFAW) union president Earle McCurdy isn’t calling for outside buyers to be allowed in, because he argues it would put many plant workers out of jobs, he says fishermen shouldn’t bear the cost of the policy.

“One way to compensate for that would be for government to fund a licence-buyout program so some fishermen could get out and those remaining would have larger quotas,” he said.

The province has expressed its willingness to cost share a licence-buyout program with Ottawa but hasn’t received support from the Harper administration.

McCurdy agreed with Cassell’s claim that describing the province’s fishery as being “hunky dory would be a stretch,” but he expects shrimp and snow crab prices to continue rising.



(Aaron Beswick is a journalist with Transcontinental Media's Northern Pen newspaper and a contributor to the Sou'Wester.)