Lobster Fishing Area 34 lobster fishermen have voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding out for a $5 shore price for their catch until the end of May.
Over the past two days fishermen have met at their respective wharves with their port representatives from the LFA 34 Management Board to vote on an offer from lobster buyers to the board.
The offer- $5 a pound until this coming Saturday and no guarantee of price beyond that, has been soundly rejected by ports throughout both Yarmouth and Shelburne counties.
- Read more special articles :
- - 1688 issues apology for confusion
- - Vote favours strike; but 1688 says go fishing
- - 1688 says strike continues
- - Striking fishermen seek price commitment
“The port clusters have said…what we’re being told now is to tell the buyers $5 until the end of May and we fully support that,” said Ashton Spinney, chair of the LFA 34 Management Board, to the crowd gathered at the West Head wharf on C.S.I. on Tuesday.
Spinney estimated that 80 percent of fishermen in LFA 34 have voted to stay ashore with some vowing to put their pots on the wharf if they don’t get $5 a pound.
The management board will be taking a counter-offer back to the buyers- $5 a pound until the end of May.
“As a management board we can go back to them and say this is what has to happen,” said Spinney.
The lobster strike, which started on April 25, was initiated by the 1688 Professional Lobster Fishermen’s Association, who are also trying to negotiate with lobster buyers and dealers on behalf of the fishermen.
