The Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) announced they have struck an agreement on the price of snow crab in the 2026 fishing season in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, ending a multi-week standoff over pricing.
FFAW and ASP said the new agreement will see harvesters paid CAD 6.00 (USD 4.38, EUR 3.72) per pound of crab landed up to and including 18 April. Starting 19 April, and until market prices are established, harvesters will receive CAD 5.75 (USD 4.20, EUR 3.56) per pound. Then, the market price will begin determining the harvester price using an agreed pricing structure. If that price is higher than CAD 5.75, harvesters will be paid the difference retroactively.
“This agreement differs from the Panel decision in several important ways. There is no floor price under this arrangement, meaning the price to harvesters will adjust with the market during the fishing season,” FFAW said in a news release. “There is also no holdback or postseason adjustment.”
FFAW said that the agreement “provides a path to getting the fishery underway while allowing prices to adjust with market conditions as the season progresses.”
“We know all our members are anxious to get a fishery going at a price they can be satisfied with,” FFAW Executive Director Dwan Street said. “After a difficult few weeks, our negotiating team feels this agreement provides a pricing structure that is more in line with market realities.”
ASP, in a separate release, said that the agreement pays harvesters upfront and that both the association and the union agreed that a timely start to the fishery is important to harvesters, processing plant workers, and the province and that they remain “committed to working together” on the fishery.
“This industry supports thousands of people and families across coastal Newfoundland and Labrador and works best when ASP and FFAW work together,” ASP Executive Director Lorelei Roberts said in a release.
The agreement comes after a multi-week back-and-forth between the FFAW and ASP, kicked off by the Newfoundland and Labrador Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel setting a minimum price of CAD 5.30 (USD 3.87, EUR 3.28) per pound for snow crab. Under provincial law, the price-setting panel sets a price when the ASP and FFAW don’t reach an agreement on their own.
However, FFAW had heavily criticized the price-setting process for months ahead of the decision and never submitted a pricing proposal to compete with ASP’s. Harvesters objected to the panel’s decision, and the following weeks resulted in an injunction against the FFAW, protests, and more recently a CAD 2.5 million (USD 1.8 million, EUR 1.5 million) lawsuit against union leadership.
