fair to poor. Recommended for small scale operations provided clear- 

 ance for use of dock space is obtained. 



Provinceto'jvn, Massachusetts. .. .Limited facilities suitable for 

 small and medium size boats. Insufficient water at low tide at docks 

 for boats drawing over 9 feet although bottom is composed of sand and 

 mud and grounding would not cause damage to boat. Freezer and storage 

 facilities for 1225 tons of tuna are available in the immediate area. 

 Limited ships services, supplies and maintenance facilities indicate 

 emergency use of this port by small craft only. Definitely not recom- 

 mended for purse seiners and clippers. 



Information received from cold storage plant operators located in 

 Maine and Massachusetts is that adequate freezing facilities and cold 

 storage sjace for handling a minimum of 7,125 tons of raw tuna yearly 

 are known to be available in these . states. Replies were received from 

 nine companies, all located in coastal cities. In Maine, two plants 

 reported a combined storage space for 1100 tons; four plants in the 

 metropolitan Boston area reported storage space for 4200 tons; four 

 plants in the Cape Cod area have storage space for 1225 tons, and New 

 Bedford plants have storage room for 500 tons. Plans are under way 

 for the construction of two new plants in Gloucester, and any tuna 

 industry expansion in flew England iiill not be retarded by lack of 

 freezer and storage facilities. At Beaufort, South Carolina, a fish 

 processing firm has cold storage space for 250 tons of tuna. 



Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Area 



TRENDS TOWARD DEVELOPMENT OF A TUNA FISHERY IN THE 

 GULF AND CARIBBEAN AREA 



Any extensive development of a fishery for tuna in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and Caribbean region on a year-round basis will necessarily 

 involve fishing in a relatively wide range, north and south, because 

 throughout the area where tuna are reported in relative abundance 

 their occurrence is seasonal. The geographical ranges, seasonal dis- 

 tributions, and habits of the various tuna fishes in the western North 

 Atlantic are not wellkiown but the weight of available evidence indi- 

 cates, for example, that nature bluefin move from the Caribbean along 



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