The fishermen of Port Saunders and Port au Choix woke up to a mess on May 15 as winds gusting to 60 knots had caused large swells that dragged lobster traps along the bottom before pulverizing them on the beach. On the other hand the Ingornachoix Bay area fishermen had gone on a four-day strike the day before, in solidarity with lobster fishermen, to demand higher lobster prices.
Fisherman Ken Ryan didn’t know how many were destroyed in total, he said some had lost up to half of their traps. He told that if it wasn’t for the tie-up we could have had our gear moved to deeper water. Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ (FFAW) union had organized the strike to protest lobster prices that had dropped to $3 a pound – their lowest point in many years.
It is said that the fishermen’s organizations from Quebec and the other Maritime provinces made public statements supporting Newfoundland and Labrador’s strike action without following the example. Their representatives joined FFAW president Earle McCurdy in emergency meetings with the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and their provincial fisheries ministers.
McCurdy informed that the point of the strike was two-fold – to tell buyers prices were too low and to show the federal government that the industry needs help. He further said that the federal government position is completely unhelpful, unrealistic. In the short-term the FFAW is asking for Employment Insurance (EI) claims to be calculated this fall based on 2008 earnings.
