Applications for processing crab, shrimp under fire

By Aaron Beswick

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Gerry Bromley is disgusted.

Few of Conche, N.L.’s 35 fish plant workers got 14 weeks of work this season. Meanwhile, the fishing fleets of Hare Bay and Canada Bay have caught thousands of tonnes of seafood which has been processed outside of the area.

“We’ve been feeding the other plants since the cod moratorium – all of the product, mackerel, crab and shrimp, has gone elsewhere on the Island,” said Mayor Bromley of the approximately 40 boats over 35-feet in length from Conche, Bide Arm, Roddickton and Englee. “It’s unbelievable that people could be biting the hand that has fed them for years.”

Protesters descended on St. John’s last week to argue against Conche, Englee or La Scie being granted additional processing licences. As well, a petition has been circulated around communities on the Island which have processing plants.

It was reminiscent of the scene some years ago when St. Anthony, N.L. was attempting to secure a crab processing licence and processors and plant workers from other areas in the province – mainly the east coast – objected.

Staff from St. Anthony Seafoods circulated the petition last week, as did other members of the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), which took issue with the granting of additional crab and shrimp processing licences.

Like Mayor Bromley, Englee Mayor Eddie Fillier isn’t impressed.

“If it gets to be known that plants in the immediate area are in opposition to us getting a licence, I got a felling that it’s going to do more harm than good,” said Mayor Fillier. “Fishermen who sell to those plants are going to be reluctant if they see that those plants are doing something that prevents the economic growth of their own community.”

Deep Atlantic International Inc. is proposing to build a new plant in Englee if it receives processing licenses for snow crab, shrimp, groundfish, pelagics, lump roe, and whelk. Northern Seafoods Ltd. has applied to the Fish Processing Licencing Board to add snow crab to its existing Conche operation. Cold North, meanwhile, is seeking to add shrimp to its La Scie operation.

The Fish Processing Licencing Board, an independent panel, has reviewed the applications and delivered its recommendations to the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Acting fisheries minister Trevor Taylor told Transcontinental Media last week that a decision would be coming “shortly,” but declined further comment.

Processors already possessing crab and shrimp licenses, and workers at their plants, argue that the industry is already plagued by overcapacity and granting new licences will only decrease the available work at existing plants, making them unattractive alternatives to outmigration.

“If we dilute wages and the amount of work, more people will go to Alberta,” said Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) executive director Derek Butler, acknowledging that his organization had a part in the petition. “I can’t think we’re still talking about dividing up the pie further amongst our plant workers instead of trying to create a sustainable economy. The pie doesn’t get any bigger.”

The province has 14 plants processing shrimp and 34 handling crab.

Mayor Fillier considers that a weak argument.

“They’re not making any reference to big increases made to the shrimp quota over the last couple years,” said Mayor Fillier. “That translates into more production at plants concentrated in the hands of bigger corporate owners.”

He also argues that fishermen’s shrimp trips are often delayed due to seasonal gluts of raw material at existing plants, forcing them to brave the North Atlantic in October or early November to catch their quotas.

“The poor plant workers are being told by the ASP that this is going to ruin the economy; it’s ridiculous,” said Mayor Fillier.

Englee’s plant hasn’t operated in recent years and the community’s population has been steadily draining west. Town council sees a new plant, utilizing a processing licence which has been in the area for years, as the only option for creating jobs.

Meanwhile, Derek Green of Northern Seafoods called a crab processing licence “critical to the survival of the plant” in Conche.

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