In recent yeai's, the pack of tuna in Washington and Oregor^ »x?.coiintea 

 for ahcut 8 percent of the total domestic production of carjied tuna. In 

 1951, a total of 1.5 tuna canneries operated in these states,. 



T^ir.a Cannliig on the East Coast of th e United Stg.tes 



In 1937. ^'J^e same year in which the larger catch of albacore in the 

 waters of the Pacific Horthwest was resulting in the creation of a t^ona- 

 canning industiy in Washington and Oregon, the canning of tluefi;i was ■begun 

 at Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the summer of 1937 » one of the lai'gest 

 fish processing firms operating in that city anno^oncsd that it waa fnterested 

 in obtaining ^applies of bluefin^ A local pvrse sei?3er began experiments, 

 using a mackerai seine, to determine the most feasible method of seining 

 bluefin: and catches amoxinting to 132,^00 pounds, valued r..t $5,296 to the 

 fishermen, were laaided during the months of July and August-, 



In 19385 a Pacific coast purse seiner, the Y.gpj^rii ^ S^gjlo re r . from 

 Tacoma, Washington, proceeded through the Panaaa Canal to Gloucester and 

 began fishing bluefin with a West Coast tuna seine. In that year, nearly 

 a million pounds of purse seine-caught bluefin were landed at Gloui.7 3Fter„ 

 Five vessels entexed the purse seine fishcrry for bluefir; howeve:.% aost- 

 of the catch was meide by two vessels, the Santa Maji a sjnd the Western 

 Eaeplorero It was proven that Atlantic coast bluefin could be taken with 

 purse Seines; lio\/eTer, tlie Western Brc-lorer was sold to a Csmadian interest 

 in 1939, presumably because its catches dio. not permit profitable operations 

 at the pricss offered. The purse seine catch in that year declined to 

 260,800 pounds and in 19^2 the canning of bluefin at Gloucester was dis- 

 continued. 



No tujia were canned on the east coast during the j'-ears from 19^3 to 

 19^5, inclusive. 



In 19^6, a cannery in Maryland and one in Virginia began canning little 

 tuna, the rexO, tanv, product being labeled "light -meat tuna.'' The markfii; for 

 canned tujia in the years immediately following World Va:r XI was exceptionally 

 strong, and it is believed that additional packers vrould liavo canned little 

 tuna had it been definitely decided they could properly be labeled "tuV/m." 

 It is known that a firm in Mississippi canned experimental packs of the fish 

 and wou.ld have begun commercial operations had it been possible to obtain 

 assurance that the pack could have been labeled "tunao" This assaranof: was 

 given by the Food a'-id Drvig Administraticn in a letter dated August 26, 19^, 

 addressed to the Fish and Wildlife Service which states, "At the present time 

 we are not taking exception to the desigPiition of 'light-meat tv..na' v;hen 

 applied to the usual oil pack prepared frcm Euthynnus allstteratu s. " 



18 



