Following a week’s delay, the snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador province in Canada is finally underway after a landing price increment.

On April 14, 2024, the Fish, Food & Allied Workers (FFAW) announced a settlement with the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) of CA$3 (US$2.18) a pound.

Besides, the union will back its workers to find buyers for not only snow crabs but other crab species.

FFAW also cited the likelihood of a floor price improvement when the retail price appreciates later in the season.

By gifting its fishermen a lucrative 50% of the seafood processing factories’ price, the union has rekindled hope in a struggling industry.  

As a gesture of hope, the union shelved a planned protest in front of the Confederation Building in St. John’s city.

Protest Timeline

On the ground, the price raise has met with renewed activity from crabbers who had been striking since April 6. They have been demanding a landing price raise to recover from a poor run in an overstocked 2023 season.

Their strike began when the Labrador and Nova Scotia Price Setting Panel selected $2.60 a pound (US$1.89) as 2024’s floor price. 

FFAW had backed its workers by proposing a payment of CA$3 (US$2.18) per pound whenever market prices reached C$7.01 (US$5.09). However, ASP had countered for a landing price below this figure.

The 2024 protest has ended faster than that of 2023 which pushed the snow crab season well into May. In 2023, fishermen were against a floor price of $2.20 a pound. The overstocked season also saw the dumping of 300,000 pounds of crab by harvesters due to their poor quality amid warming waters.

On April 2, 2024, an analyst had remarked that fishermen might lose C$30 million (US$167.23 million) without a pay rise.

Luckily, fishermen are already back to their traps to launch the snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador in earnest. They are in to land 34,603 pounds of snow crab this season, 13% more than  the 2023 quota, per government’s estimates.