Can't afford to stay off water despite awful prices, lobster fishermen say
Last Updated: Friday, May 15, 2009 | 9:54 AM ET
CBC News
Oakley Johnson, who fishes out of North Harbour, says he and his brother feel they have to keep working at the lobster industry, despite rock-bottom prices. (CBC) While the largest fisheries union in Newfoundland and Labrador has called for a boycott in the lobster industry, some fishermen say they cannot afford not to be working.
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers union earlier this week called for a four-day protest against prices that processors are offering, which fishermen say are the lowest in 25 years.
But brothers Earle and Oakley Johnson, who fish out of North Harbour in Placentia Bay, said many fishermen are still on the water, out of necessity.
"There's people out, we were out this morning. There's boats around, so everybody is not staying in," Oakley Johnson told CBC News Thursday.
"I don't think anybody will be selling to the buyers today, but I don't know if a lot of fellers haven't sold anyway."
At $3 per pound, the Johnsons said they cannot make a living at what local processors have been offering. They have been selling their catches at $5 per pound right off their boat.
"A lot of people this year are selling them loose, local, rather than selling to the buyers, rather than take that much of a loss," Earle Johnson said.
However, there are only so many people looking to buy at the wharf, and the Johnsons have a lot of lobster.
In the past, crab fishermen tried a recent tactic, by refusing to sell their catches to local processors. The gambit worked, and buyers raised their prices.
But the Johnson brothers said they do not see that happening here.
For now, the Johnsons are storing their caught lobsters in water, and will wait a while in hopes of better returns from buyers.
"We're going to keep 'em so long as we can, and I suppose when push comes to shove, we'll have to let the buyers have them," Oakley Johnson said.
"I can't dump them. I can't afford that."
