ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador’s most lucrative fishery is in jeopardy as fishers and fish processors scramble to find a way to deal with the 25 per cent United States tariffs on Canadian goods set to begin this week.
Jeff Loder, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers, says it’s unclear if the snow crab fishery will open as scheduled next month.
About 96 per cent of the crab caught each year in Newfoundland and Labrador is shipped to the U.S., and in 2022, crab exports were worth about $761 million, accounting for more than half of the $1.4-billion fishing sector in the province.
Loder says the tariffs are the biggest threat to the province’s seafood industry since the 1992 cod moratorium, which wiped out about 30,000 jobs and a centuries-old way of life in Canada’s easternmost province.
Dwan Street, president of the union representing inshore fishers and fish plant workers, says the potential closure of the snow crab fishery will devastate rural Newfoundland and Labrador, where fishers are the economic heart of communities.
Meanwhile, a Narrative Research survey of 1,618 residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. — conducted between Jan. 30-31 — found that 62 per cent of respondents said they would spend less time travelling in the U.S., with the top reason being “dissatisfaction or disagreement with (U.S. President Donald Trump’s) leadership, values and administration.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.
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