FFAW Committee Rejects Divisive Proposal From ASP

The FFAW crab negotiating committee unanimously and unequivocally rejected ASP’s proposal yesterday afternoon. The Committee requested that ASP not circulate any further because it was not a reasonable approach, knowing it would be divisive among harvesters.

The FFAW snow crab negotiating committee had requested a meeting with ASP and a brief discussion occurred on Tuesday afternoon.

FFAW requested that ASP define concerns they were going to have with less capacity in processing plants if and when a fishery opens.  There is an acknowledgement by all in the industry that we must maintain high quality of crab and not land crab that cannot be processed.

ASP responded that there are concerns about the possibility of too much crab for plants in the weeks following a potential opening and presented a proposal that saw different fleets start fishing at different times.  This was in no uncertain terms rejected by the FFAW Crab Committee members.

As an example, ASP’s proposal had some fleets starting to fish one month before others.

FFAW crab committee members immediately saw this as divisive and unfair. The crab committee has stated from the start that the ability to harvest this year must be fair for all involved.  All enterprises must be given the opportunity to harvest their available quotas and with stable prices.

It is also regrettable that misinformation and information with no context is being spread to torment and caused added anxiety to harvesters, fishery workers and their families at a time when stress and anxiety is already high during a global pandemic and economic crisis

Discussions on crab also included updated deliberations on safety protocols and best practices relating to COVID-19.  FFAW requested more detailed discussions on markets and valuations of snow crab for the next round of discussions.