Protest averted as Newfoundland and Labrador premier helps reach pricing deal on crab [Video]

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. –

A pricing agreement has been reached between crab fishers and seafood processors that will allow for Newfoundland and Labrador’s annual crab fishery to get started.

The provincial government says Premier Andrew Furey helped Sunday to negotiate the deal between the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, which represents inshore fishermen, and the Association of Seafood Producers.

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The minimum price for the 2024 crab fishery has been set at $3.00 per pound.

Prices paid to fishermen for their catch are decided each year by a government-appointed panel, which set the opening price last year at $2.20 a pound, prompting crab harvesters to leave their boats tied up for six weeks.

Tempers have flared because crab fishers were earning more than $7 per pound during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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