FOREWORD 



During the past decade the tuna industry in the United 

 States has declined under economic pressures. Specifically, 

 domestic producers have been increasingly displaced in open- 

 market competition by foreign fishermen and foreign products. 

 A direct solution of this problem through legislation or arbi- 

 tration lies outside the function of the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries and the United States Department of Interior. Any 

 solution is complicated by considerations of foreign policy. 



The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, however, can strive 

 to improve the competitive position of the domestic industry 

 through a well-designed program of research and services. 

 This program would include the best possible understanding of 

 oceanography and the biology of the tunas, aiding the industry 

 in the development of improved harvesting and processing tech- 

 niques, and the timely dissemination of pertinent information 

 to various segments of the industry. 



Accordingly, the Bureau is intensifying the study of 

 world trends in tuna production, processing, and marketing, 

 and is expanding its biological and technological research. 

 To help formulate a program, the Bureau invited representa- 

 tives of the domestic fishing and processing industries to 

 participate in a discussion of the present and future plans. 

 The result was the Government-Tuna Industry Meeting held at 

 University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanogra- 

 phy, La Jolla, California, May 19 to 21, 195°, under the 

 chairmanship of the Director, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 

 At this meeting, staff members and contractors of the Bureau, 

 the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Inter- 

 American Tropical Tuna Commission, presented for review a 

 comprehensive survey of the world tuna fisheries and the 

 problems of the domestic producers and processors. Current 

 and possible future research was outlined and discussed. 



This report includes the contribution of the Bureau 

 and the other research agencies named above, in essentially 

 the same form as given at the meeting. The extensive dis- 

 cussion and the comments of industry participants have all 

 been recorded but are not reported here. The transcript 

 may be consulted by interested industry members in Washing- 

 ton or in principal offices of the Bureau in the area. The 

 formal proposals of industry representatives and the entire 

 proceeding are receiving careful study by the Bureau. 



Donald L. McKernan 

 Director 



IV 



