Fish plants are busy with crab, so here's how harvesters are selling their catch of cod

The late start to the snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador is keeping processing plants busy, leaving cod harvesters to get creative andsell their catch any way they can.

"We're down here today filleting our fish because we have nowhere to sell our fish,"said fisherman Wade Bolt.

"None of the fish plants were buying, so we got a restaurant in Mount Pearl [buying], King Cod," which he co-owns, he added.

Snow crab harvesters kept their boats tied up at the beginning of the fishing season in April to protest theprice set for their catch. After a six-week delay, the fishery began at the same price that had been set to start the season.

But the delay means plants are still busy processing crab when they'd normally be processing cod.

Bolt said he's still without a buyer three weeks into the cod fishery,which he's never seen before.

He's encouraging other fishermen to look to outside markets and skip the fish plants, andsuggested selling to restaurants likehe's doing.

Bolt said he has no trouble getting rid of his catch, because it's being frozen for King Cod Fish and Chips, but there are others who aren'tout on the water at all because they don't have buyers lined up fortheir catch.

"It's time for our provincial government to open their eyes and start looking at the problems of this fishery and our federal government. They're the ones that issue licences," he said.

"This fishery is going downhill big time."

Crab season has also been extended until the end of the month, which Boltsaid will also keep people away from the cod fishery.

"But the buyers, I think, are trying to keep everyone away from it until after all the crab'sin. And are they going to buy it then? Who knows, I know some plants have still got cod from last year," said Bolt.

Over at King Cod Fish andChips, Cassidy Norris said they have their usual amount of fish in spite of the current situation.

She added the restaurant owners Bolt and Keith Boland are both fishermen, so they're buying their catch.

Nowhere to go

Longtime fisherman Frank Brown has also found a way to handle the current situation; he says he has cod filets upfor the taking.

"They're free, some. Might sell some. Depends. People have orders back and forth, you know, for 25 and 30, 40 pounds offillets," said Brown.

He saidhe has been able to sell some recent catches to a plant, though there areguidelines on what the plant willtake.

"They don't buy here anything under 20 inches. It's got to be a 20-inch fish," Brown explained.

He said there are fishermen bringing back catches with nowhere to take them buta lot of people in Petty Harbour will fillet their fish and then sell it to local shops and markets.

Union weighs in

Fish, Food & Allied Workers-Unifor secretary-treasurer Jason Spingle hopesprocessing plants start to take in more cod in the next week or so.

While it's fine for harvesters to sell their catch locally, said Spingle,most want to sellto processors who can handle large volumes of fish. It also provides other people in the communities with work.

"Right now, we can't process this cod that we have, this small amount of cod that we have in the time that we want to process it," said Spingle.

"We have to look at a plan, and it has to happen this winter,about how we're going to outline these issues."

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