Atlantic fishers are feeling the pinch as Japan brings in cheap Russian product rather than Canadian snow crabs, with federal ministers and provincial premiers saying they are raising the issue with Japanese officials.
But Tokyo is pushing back on claims that its trade decisions are undermining G7 sanctions — or that they are having much of an effect on the Canadian industry.
Snow crab prices have dropped in Newfoundland and Labrador from $7.60 per pound at the start of last year’s season to an opening price of $2.20 this year.
Fishers in the province have refused to start harvesting this year as they scramble to sell off last year’s surplus, although the price could still rise.
Analysts say crab is a lucrative species for Atlantic Canada, and it was the country’s second-largest seafood export in 2021. Market prices hit record highs during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but began plummeting last year.
The United States blocked sales from Russia to punish the country for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and its own Alaska crab fishery collapsed, making Washington reliant on Canada.
But American customers have opted against pricey Canadian crab during a period of inflated food prices, leaving unsold roughly 10 million pounds of Canadian crab that was caught last year.