Secretary-Treasurer Jamie Baker (FFAW-Unifor)
The FFAW welcomes news of tariff relief for Canadian crab and lobster bound for China, but says many questions remain.
Secretary Treasurer Jamie Baker told the Tim Powers Show on VOCM that the NL seafood sector is worth well over $1 billion a year.
Baker says any reduction in tariffs is good news for harvesters and plant workers in this province, but with the current tariff deal coming to an end at the end of the year, they want to see what the plan is moving forward.
He says the fishery needs stability.
“And knowing year-to-year…where your markets are going to be, and what the impacts are going to be would be certainly critical.” He says crab and lobster are two of the most important and significant fisheries in the province, “but we don’t have any clarity yet on some other really important species that are almost exclusively going to China.” He says there was a “very big toss up last year over the sea cucumber…that fishery didn’t happen last year because of these tariffs in a lot of ways.”