The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced Thursday that the opening of this year’s snow crab fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador has been delayed.
A news release states that while the management approach for the 2020 snow crab fishery has not been finalized, the fishery will not open before April 20.
A decision on the 2020 management approach is expected soon.
The impact of COVID-19 on Atlantic Canada’s fishery has been an issue of discussion among provincial fisheries ministers and Ottawa.
The importance of opening dates, market conditions and the need to ensure that logistical support systems are in place to facilitate the movement and sale of seafood products this season.
The new federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit has been highlighted — which will give processors, captains, harvesters, and seafood growers access to a new stream of direct income support if they can’t go out and fish or earn an income because of COVID-19’s impact on the market.
Derek Butler, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), said this week that conversations between processors and the FFAW-Unifor, the union representing harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador, started in early March over price setting, season openings and other issues facing the industry during the pandemic.
"We were prepared then to start to talk about COVID-19, the uniqueness of it, the market challenge it might represent in terms of restaurants being closed — we sell a lot of our product to restaurants," Butler told The Telegram.
Thus far, market considerations have taken a backseat to addressing workplace health and safety at the plant level and on the vessels, according to Butler, who also credits his counterparts at the union for keeping the lines of communication open over the last couple of weeks.
FFAW-Unifor has taken a cautious approach to venturing into the new fishing season. Last week the union put out a news release recommending the Department of Fisheries and Oceans postpone the opening of the snow crab fishery until at least April 20. According to the release, the union's snow crab committee and inshore council intend to evaluate the situation daily to see whether that date should be pushed back even further.
"Right now there's a whole host of challenges," said Keith Sullivan, president of FFAW-Unifor. "First and foremost, we're focused on making sure we can have a safe fishery, and that means looking at safety on fishing vessels and dockside and then safety in plants."
