Hopes dashed for crab-pricing formula as union-producer talks end in failure

It started out six weeks ago as a rare show of unity between the fisheries union and seafood producers, but efforts to agree on a price formula for this year's snow crab harvest have ended in failure.

Jeff Loder, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers, said in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon that the group couldn't reach an agreement with the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union, which represents Newfoundland and Labrador's inshore fishermen.

"We negotiated in good faith with ourbest efforts to find a collaborative solution with the FFAW by defining a formula that works for both parties. Unfortunately, this was not possible," says the release.

CBC News has askedFFAW-Unifor president Greg Pretty for comment.

The unionissued a statement on social media Tuesday afternoon, saying efforts to reach a consensus on a pricing formula "could not be agreed to."

• Staring down $100M loss from 2022, ASP pledges to work with FFAW for upcoming season

It will now be up to the government-appointed fish price-setting panel essentially an arbitrator to establish a price for the upcoming season.

As in past years, both sides are expected to present their recommended price to the panel. Submissions will be made later this week, with the panel selecting one of the two offers, likely next week. It's known as final offer selection.

The union and the lobby group that represents seafood producers two groups with a long history of confrontation and bickeringannounced Feb. 16 that they would attempt to hammer out a pricing formula that would work for both sides.

Similar pricing formulas work in other fisheriesbut have never caught on in the crab industry, which is the province's most valuable fishery and is often described by theunion as the world's largest crab harvest.

But after several years of record prices and increasing quotas, the crab market has cooled dramatically this year, and both sides felt it was the right time to work together in a bid to avoid the pricing disputes that have characterized past years.

Soaring demand for crab in the United States during the pandemic drove prices to record highs, with harvesters being paid nearly $8 per pound at the beginning of last season.

But that demand has collapsed, and producers say large volumes of crab from last year's harvest remain in storage.

Talks between both sides have been held in secret, so it's not known how far apart they were on a pricing formula, or what price they plan to submit to the price-setting panel.

The crab harvest typically gets underway in early April.

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