Tag Archives: on strike

Quinault Indian Nation join West Coast crabbers on strike

Fleets from Central California to the Canadian border are refusing to fish as the crabbing season opens along the coast. The strike is due to a price drop before Christmas, when Pacific Seafood began offering $2.75 per pound instead of $3. John Corbin, an Oregon fisherman and chairman of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, said crabbing is expensive, especially with the substantial amount of bait that is used. “They’re getting us on both ends here,” Corbin said. “They’re charging us more for bait and they’re wanting to pay less for the crabs. So, it’s just cutting into the bottom line, and we just can’t do that.” On Wednesday, crabbing opened on Washington state’s coast, but no crabbing vessels set out. The Quinault Indian Nation has also joined commercial crabbers in the strike. Read the story here 16:02

STRIKE!!! – Commercial crabbers strike on West coast

Commercial fisherman from Morro Bay, California, all the way to the Canadian border have gone on strike. Crab pots are piled on boats still tied up in the harbors all along the West coast because Bandon Pacific and other wholesale buyers want to pay 25 cents less than the negotiated price to fishermen on the southern Oregon cost. “This is all over a quarter,” said Charleston fisherman Jim Thornsberry. “Thousands of people are out of work because processors don’t want to pay us what they are already paying fishermen in California.” John Corbin, fisherman out of Columbia River and the chairman of the Dungeness Crab Commission, explained that $3 per pound was the negotiated price prior to the Brookings and Port Orford crab opening. “But then the processors dropped their price on Monday and we went back to the negotiation table, but they drew a line in the sand at $2.75,,, Corbin said there is usually solidarity among fishermen, and is glad “we are all tied up together.” Read the story here 19:11 Crab Fishermen in West Coast Ports Pull Pots in Solidarity with Humboldt Read the story here 20:35