Mr. John Menarry:

To add to what Mr. Desmond said, the processors I supply usually open in early May. They did not open until July last year. That meant we lost the first two months of our season. They were no longer open. We got the call to say they had closed at the start of November. As Mr. Desmond said, the most lucrative and best time for crab is in the lead-up to Christmas. That is when we expect to make the bulk of our money to tide us over for the winter. Suddenly, processors closed with very little warning and we were left with nothing else to fish because of the lack of other opportunities in the inshore sector.