Quin-Sea takes a flamethrower to the ASP as it departs fisheries group

A dispute that's smoldered for weeks in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishing industry has erupted into an inferno, with Quin-Sea Fisheries dropping a metaphorical hand grenade as it cuts ties with the trade association that represents most seafood producers in the province.

In a strongly worded news release issued Monday morning, the St. John's-based company said it was withdrawing from the Association of Seafood Producers, saying it could no longer tolerate the ASP's "internal strong-arming and mistreatment" of members.

The decision comes after many months of strained relations between Quin-Sea and the ASP, and is more fallout from a contentious period in the fishery dating back to last winter, when harvesters protested in a bid to bring more free enterprise to the industry.

The Quin-Sea news release was issued by Patrick Hickey, the company's strategy and impact advisor, and accuses the ASP of leading the industry "down a negative and unproductive path."

Last fall, the ASP and the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, or FFAW, brought a complaint against Quin-Sea to the province's labour relations board in an attempt to force Quin-Sea to disclose its sales records.

The complaint alleged that Quin-Sea was refusing to provide sales data from the 2024 crab harvest to ensure harvesters received their fair share of the revenue.

The ASP argued that member companies were required to disclose sales records as a condition of the crab price formula.

Quin-Sea, which was acquired in 2016 by Royal Greenland, a company wholly owned by the government of Greenland, described the complaint as "astonishing" and said the requirement to disclose records was "false and highly troubling."

The ASP and FFAW later withdrew its complaint before the labour board, but Quin-Sea alleges that Jeff Loder, the ASP's executive director, made "false statements to global media," alleging that Quin-Sea had "broken the law by refusing to provide its confidential business records."

"That ASP would even start such a proceeding against its member was incomprehensible. That it would publicly malign its own member is unforgivable. Quin-Sea provided ASP with an opportunity to withdraw its comments and apologize. ASP refused," reads the Quin-Sea news release.

And in a further criticism of the ASP, Quin-Sea said it will not be a member of a trade organization that "makes false claims, ignores its own bylaws, operates without transparency, and launches baseless and costly attacks, both legal and in media, against its own member."

Quin-Sea also accused the ASP of failing to properly develop the province's fishing resources.

"It is not interested in getting [Marine Stewardship Council] certification for our precious lobster resource; it is not interested in taking swift action to reform ASP's own governance and bylaws; it is not interested in engaging with its membership in a fair, transparent, and equitable way," the release said.

Despite its departure from the ASP, the news release states that Quin-Sea will continue to "process the highest quality seafood while employing hundreds of honest and hard working people, as an independent operation outside of ASP. We will continue to purchase fish from harvesters at or above the fair market value price, as it has always done."