D-uring the period from 1918 to 19^1, albacore had "been taken south 

 of the Mexican border in only about half of the years, and in no year had 

 the production exceeded 3 percent of the total landings of these fish. 

 No albacore were reported from off Mexico in 19^1; however, in 19^2 the 

 catch from these waters totaled 2,623,900 pounds, or 11 percent of the 

 total and by 19^ they amounted to 25,926,500 pounds, over half the 

 albacore catch. 



In recent years there also has been a trend toward an increase in the 

 catch of albacore off central and northern California. In 1950, landings 

 in the Northern, San Francisco, and Monterey districts of California 

 amounted to 21,235,100 pounds, compared with 9,ij48,000 pounds in 19^9 and 

 the previous high of ^,99^,000 pounds landed in 1939. 



Prior to ftie establishment of tuna canneries in the Pacific Northwest, 

 principally at Astoria, Oregon, on the Colvunbia River, the canning of tuna 

 had been confined almost exclusively to southern California. Since the 

 canners north of San Pedro were dependent oii albacore for a supply of raw 

 material, their season was relatively short, and additional sources of fish 

 were desired in order to supply the firms' markets for tvina and to bring 

 about operating economies through longer canning seasons. The first attempts 

 to accomplish this purpose involved the outfitting of freezer ships which could 

 operate off Central America, purchasing yellowfin and skipjack from United 

 States or local fishermen, which could be frozen and tsiken to northern 

 canneries for processing. This procedure was followed for a number of years, 

 but apparently not too profitably, since these operations have been dis- 

 continued. 



The second source of tuna has been imports from Japan. Two of the 

 freezer ships that operated off Central America for a time have made a 

 number of trips to Japan and returned with about 1,000 tons of tiuia on 

 each voyage. Recently, however, most of the shipments received in the 

 Pacific Northwest from Japan have arrived on regular commercial cargo 

 vessels. Since the northern canneries do not have as easy access to the 

 bluefin, skipjack, and yellowfin available to the southern California 

 canners, they are very much more interested in receiving continued duty free 

 imports of tuna than are most of the packers in the San Diego and San 

 Pedro areas, according to their testimony at U.S. Senate Finance Committee 

 smd Tariff Commission. hearings. 



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