FFAW-Unifor Applauds Provincial Government’s Move to Strengthen Owner-Operator Fishery with New Co-Op Model for Snow Crab Harvesters

April 17, 2025 Canada

ST. JOHN’S, NL: FFAW-Unifor proudly commends the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, for today’s announcement of the Industry Balance and Opportunity Licensing Approach, a transformative initiative that bolsters the owner-operator fishery and fosters a more competitive and balanced snow crab industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Minister Byrne’s forward-thinking policy, which allows groups of eligible inshore harvesters to access new snow crab primary processing licenses, is a game-changer for our province’s fishery. By empowering harvesters with a combined access of 4.5 million pounds of snow crab to form cooperative, independently owned processing entities, this approach delivers on the Minister’s November 2024 10-point plan to enhance competition, increase processing capacity, and curb corporate concentration. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:08

FFAW-Unifor, FFAW-Unifor president Dwan Street, Honourable Gerry Byrne, Industry Balance and Opportunity Licensing Approach, inshore harvesters, Newfoundland and Labrador, owner-operator fishery, snow crab industry

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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