A new report on New Brunswick's snow crab fishery says the industry needs to modernize if it's going to remain lucrative and achieve greater stability.

Consultant Gilles Theriault describes the fishery as being in a "very precarious state" and says bickering between fishermen, processors and plant workers is holding the industry back.

New Brunswick fishermen catch almost $70 million in snow crab during the spring and summer season in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.

But the report blasts working conditions in fish plants and says all plant workers should earn a minimum of $12 an hour.

There are 22 fish processing plants in the province, but only 12 operated in the last year, says the report.

Closing the old plants through a government buyout could allow modernization of the remainder so they could operate year-round for other species, the report states.

A smaller number of processing operations should be licensed, the report says, with the focus on ones that can operate at least 25 weeks per year.

To ensure steady work for the industry, Theriault's report suggests that crab boats be limited to two landings per week and a weight quota. The base price for crab should also be set at the beginning of the season, he writes.

Theriault urges processors to form an industry association to propose a system to divide half the crab quota among themselves, while they would bid for the other half of the quota through an online auction system.

New Brunswick's Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet said he is confident there's a way to make the province's snow crab fishery a success.

Doucet will be meeting with members of the province's fisheries roundtable to decide which of the 30 recommendations from Theriault's report should be adopted.

Currently processors don't know how much crab will come in, plant workers don't know how much work they'll get and fishermen don't know what price they'll get for their catch, Doucet said.

Many of the workers are just attempting to get the six to 12 weeks of work they need a year to qualify for employment insurance, he said.

"You know that's not right," Doucet said. "I think this industry is worth more than that. We're doing an injustice here."

The workers make about $4,000 to $6,000 in wages annually, working as long as 100 hours per week early in the season, but as little as 20 hours later.

With files from the Canadian Press