Tag Archives: strike

We import 92% of the seafood our nation consumes. Has the time come?

Many  years ago I often wondered what would have happened if the entire nations commercial fishermen went on strike. And I mean all aspects of the commercial fishing industry. All coasts, all fisheries, everything, the whole kit and caboodle. It was at a time when the industry was beginning to feel the effects of legal abuses of the court system by the environmental organizations that were itching to control the way fishermen went about their business. It was probably in the early ninety’s. I always thought that a show of unity on such a grand scale would enlighten the powers that be to realize how much of an economic force the industry represented. Back then, we felt things were getting pretty bad. Our livelihoods were under attack by eco zealots who felt as they do today, that fishermen’s jobs meant less than the food they supplied the nation. If I had to guess, back then American fishermen were probably providing around half of the seafood we consumed as a nation. I recall thinking we could have a profound effect on the way we were perceived  and have greater control of our own destinies. click here to read the story 13:45

Strike Update – Crab fishermen stand strong, hold out for Pacific Seafoods pre-negotiated price

Commercial crab fishermen continue to strike along the West Coast, hoping processors will pay the $3 opening price that was negotiated prior to the season opening. Instead, wholesale buyers and processors have not budged on the $2.75 per pound they are now offering. The $3 per pound price was negotiated prior to the Brookings and Port Orford crab opening on Dec. 18. The price was lowered on Dec. 26, just eight days after that partial opening of the fishery. In response, crab fishermen from Morro Bay, Calif., to the Canadian border have tied up their boats. One local processor is Bandon Pacific in Charleston, a division of Pacific Seafood, which owns and operates more than 38 processing and distribution facilities from Alaska to Texas, with many of them on the West coast in coastal communities throughout the Pacific region. John Corbin, president of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, and a fisherman who lives in Seaside and fishes the Columbia River, said there has been “really no change” since fishermen decided to strike. Corbin said fishermen all along the coast in different ports have been meeting daily via phone conference, but processors have not met with them. Read the story here 10:51

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