Tuesday marked opening day for stone crab season – but not all crabbers went straight to work. There’s a stone crab strike going on in Everglades City – and it’s aimed at the granddaddy restaurant of them all: Joe’s Stone Crab.
About a dozen vessels in Everglades City went on strike. Crabbers who normally sell to the Earnest Hamilton Fishers that is owned by Joe’s, say prices per pound are too low.“Last year it ended at a $11 dollar medium and we’re starting at a $7 dollar medium? And that’s $4, that’s a big difference”, said McBeth Collins, one of South Florida’s biggest stone crab suppliers.
He thinks $8 dollars would have been a better starting point. Prices typically go up as the season progresses.
Steven Sawitz is the Chief Operating Officer at Joe’s. He says this year’s starting price - $7 for a pound of mediums – is the highest he’s ever put out. It’s fifty cents more than this time last year.
“They don’t feel it’s enough", Sawitz said. "We put out there and our other fishery down in the Keys accepted it. Other fisheries are okay with it. “
Sawitz says prices could go up, but it’s too soon to know for sure.
“We’re not prepared to make our customers pay an exorbitantly high price at the beginning of the year when we don’t know if the season will be bountiful or not”, Sawitz explained.
Joe’s has plenty of stone crabs in reserve for its opening tonight. The restaurant is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary this year.