The Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) has won an arbitration against the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) over a dispute in 2023 over snow crab tolerances.
FFAW, which represents snow crab harvesters in Newfoundland, Canada, won a judgment it said it expects will be worth CAD 3.3 million (USD 2.4 million, EUR 2.2 million) against ASP related to claims that processors in the province shortchanged harvesters in the 2023 fishing season. During the season, FFAW said harvesters were reporting that processors had implemented a zero-percent tolerance limit on the crab harvest, countering longstanding agreements.
Since 1998, harvesters and processers in Newfoundland have agreed to a 20-percent tolerance for crab under 4 inches, which is typically crab that will fetch a lower price on the market. The tolerance is built into the harvest and allows harvesters to be compensated for smaller legal crab at the higher price for the first 20 percent of any crab harvest.
The goal of the system is to prevent “high-grading,” or a practice where fishermen throw out legal-sized crab of smaller sizes that would end up costing them money as the small crab would count toward their quota but take from their profits.
The 20 percent tolerance rule is also built into the Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ Integrated Fishing Management Plan as a sustainability measure.
Despite the requirements, FFAW said in 2023, processors were ...
