ST. JOHN'S — Mario Rice is not going fishing today.
Instead, the inshore fisherman from Red Head Cove, Conception Bay, is heading to St. John's to join some of his peers for another protest at the Fish Food and Allied workers (FFAW) office on Hamilton Avenue at 1 o’clock.
Another protest was planned for the same time at the union office in Corner Brook, for fishers on the province’s west coast.
The protests today, May 12, are a follow up to a quickly-organized protest May 9 that saw more than 100 gather in St. John’s to challenge their union on its decision to settle for a $2.90 a pound for crab for the season.
That’s not the only bone of contention between some fish harvesters and the union.
Rice told SaltWire media Monday afternoon there is also a high level of fear among some fish harvesters regarding safety on fishing boats and in fishing communities in the time of COVID-19.
He pointed out many inshore fishers use small boats and it’s impossible for them to maintain social distancing in that small space.
According to Rice, many are worried that with the start of the fishery, and with fish plants firing up to start processing and thousands of people going back to work, the risk of more spread of coronavirus will increase.
“And how can you take hundreds of people and throw them in a crab plant and expect this (coronavirus) not to break out in this province?”
“The safety is the biggest part of it. How can we go fishing with this pandemic? The message from here in my area . . . we got four small communities and three fish plants, and when them three plants starts up it’s over a thousand people comes here from all over the province, and 50 or 60 foreign workers . . . and we don’t need that.”
"How can we go fishing with this pandemic?" — Mario Rice
Their anger at the union, says Rice, is also because the FFAW did not give fish harvesters a chance to vote on the price of crab, and the decision to go fishing.
In social media posts over the past few days fishers also expressed anger over trip limits imposed by some companies for the crab season. Trip limits mean fishers would be allowed to land only a certain amount of their individual quotas each fishing trip. Fishers say that would mean more trips, and more expense, for their operations.
Finally, they don't like that the union’s decision to go fishing was made before the federal government revealed what they might provide in the form of an aid package.
The FFAW, along with the Maritime Fishermen’ Union (MFU) for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, have been lobbying Ottawa for help for those affected by the drop in prices for crab and lobster due to the global pandemic.
Ottawa has not yet unveiled an aid package, but there is anticipation in the industry that an announcement will come within days.
These concerns, however, are not stopping some from going fishing.
Many boats headed out earlier this week.
The protest has moved on to the street in attempt to maintain social distancing as requested by the RNC. pic.twitter.com/bhyZUcLx6t
— Tyler Dunne (@teedunne) May 12, 2020
Rice contends most of those are bigger boats, the enterprises with much higher quotas to catch.
That's created some animosity among fishers.
Inshore harvester Jason Sullivan posted this on social media Monday: “It needs to be highlighted at the protest tomorrow that the FFAW cannot be permitted to continue to allow big boats to dictate the fishery. The small boat crews are the most vulnerable and any union worth its salt would have held fast until the support was made available and they were looked after.”
Since the protest in St. John’s on Saturday, the FFAW has made some progress on two of the points of contention raised by fish harvesters.
In a post on its Facebook page on Monday, the FFAW said the union’s crab committee had discussed trip limits with some processing companies, and some changes were made.
UPDATE ON CRAB AND COD PRICE NEGOTIATIONS Today FFAW negotiating committees are focused on important price negotiations...
Posted by FFAW/Unifor on Tuesday, May 12, 2020
"Effective immediately, for inshore, single licenses can now land a total of 3,000 pounds instead of 1,500 pounds and double licenses can land 5,000 pounds instead of 3,000 pounds.”
Earlier this morning the FFAW also noted it has made a proposal to the province’s Standing Fish Price Setting Panel to review the price set for this season. The FFAW said they have obtained more information that could prove the markets for crab have improved, and they will present that information to the panel tomorrow, May 13.
That hasn't stopped the protests.
Many headed to the St. John’s rally at the FFAW offices on Hamilton Avenue.
Saturday’s protest drew some criticism from the public when photos of the protest were published online and on social media, with many expressing the worry that the large gathering was a potential scenario to produce another cluster of COVID-19 cases.
Asked about those public concerns, Rice replied: “All we can do is wear a mask and hope for the best. But if our union was doing their job we wouldn’t have to go in there at all.”
