Paul Sheppard said he and a few of his fellow fishermen demand that something needs to be done about the price of lobster. The York Harbour fisherman was one of about 30 lobster harvesters that attended a rally where a group marched from the Pepsi Centre to the Sir Richard Squires Building.
In this context the Fish Food and Allied Workers union has started a four-day tie-up Thursday, May 14. Sheppard informed that the price of lobster started out at $3.50 a pound and went to $3 a pound. He said some areas are getting paid $2.57 a pound. He also told that fishermen find it hard to make money at that price with the cost of gas, bait and everything else. He said that a lot of people are laying off their sharemen because they can’t afford to have them because they’re not making any money.
According to Sheppard the spring lobster fishery gives the small-boat fishermen enough to make it through to fall. He mentioned that they are trying to get some help. Jason Spingle, staff representative for the FFAW in Corner Brook, explained that the harvesters’ march resulted in getting a meeting between the premier’s executive assistant in Corner Brook, Linda Roche, six fishermen and himself.
Spingle also told that the lobster fishermen will also be meeting with the provincial Fisheries minister in the coming weeks. Aaron Bennett, a lobster fisherman from McKay’s, said he would have liked to have come to the protest in Corner Brook, but he just couldn’t make it.
