NL processors find replacement for Derek Butler (hopefully his crab prices are even better)
Jeff Loder has been named executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers to serve as lead negotiator for processors/buyers when it comes to setting the price of fish in this province. SEA-NL extends a sincere congratulations and good luck to Mr. Loder. Let the games begin ...
Jeff Loder (left) was named earlier today as executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers, replacing Derek Butler (right), who resigned last fall to take a position with the Nunavut Fisheries Association.
I've heard a lot of fishermen say they wished Butler was negotiating fish prices for the inshore fleet.
Butler was certainly good to the inshore in 2022 — both snow crab prices set by the price-setting panel last year, including $7.60/lb to start the season and $6.15/lb to end it — were put forward by Butler and the ASP.
Those are the same prices that processors have been whining about ever since.
So yeah, Derek will be missed.
As for Loder, he was the province's lead negotiator in the Canada/European Union free-trade deal.
That's the same free-trade deal where Newfoundland and Labrador was the only Canadian province to give up a constitutional right — minimum processing requirements or MPRs.
First former Prime Minister Stephen Harper reneged on a $400-million fishery fund ($280 million from the feds) in compensation for the province giving up MPRs, and then current PM Justin Trudeau set aside far less to the province ($100 million) in compensation.
The $100 million is part of a $325 million Atlantic Fisheries Fund that goes to all of Atlantic Canada, including $8 million for Ocean Choice International to help build a new processing plant in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
SEA-NL wrote all about it here: The blood of all NLers should be boiled by now
Back to Loder's resume, he has a masters degree in political science, and according to his Linkedin profile has basically been this province's go-to guy when it comes to national/international trade.
Most recently he served as director of public affairs at the Hearth, Patio, and Barbeque Association of Canada.
How does that saying go? Out of the barbeque and into the fire ...
Ryan Cleary,
Executive Director, SEA-NL
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is a professional, non-profit organization serving as the distinct voice for licensed, independent owner-operator inshore fish harvesters. You can read more about SEA-NL, and register for the Feb. 25th, 2023 AGM here.