Some tuna are brought to the cannery by other transportation 

 methods than by the fishing vessel. In a few instances the fishing 

 vessel discharges tuna at some remote port and the iced fish are hauled 

 to the cannery in large truck-trailers » The trucks are thai unloaded, 

 usually into the carts, which are wheeled into the cannerj'-. Japanese 

 tuna are often unloaded at points such as Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, 

 Washington where they are placed in cold storage. The fish, when needed 

 at a carjiery, are packed into a truck or freight car and shipped to the 

 cannery. Usually the fish are unloaded from freight car or truck into 

 hand-pushed carts and wheeled into the thawing or butchering room. The 

 extensive handling aind re-handling of such frozen fish nay result in 

 quite serious bruisirig, abrasion of the skin, or other damage. Frequent- 

 ly, the workers in unloading a car or truck of such fish handle them 

 with hooks. While an effort is usually made to handle the fish by the 

 head or tail, occasionally fish are hooked throu^ the body and, if the 

 fish are partially thawed, considerable damage may result. When the 

 fish are, as sometimes happens, handled as many as 4 or 5 times in this 

 way, an appreciable portion of the fish may show the effect of such 

 rough treatment . 



In general, the conveying of fish from vessel to cannerj- is handled 

 in a highly efficient mamer with a minimum of labor. It is not believed 

 that any considerable improvement can be made at this stage. 



THAWING FRDZHJ FISH 



Fish frozen aboard clipper ships are generally thawed or partially 

 thawed before they are unloaded at the cannery. It is customary to turn 

 off the refrigeration a day or two before the vessel docks. In some 

 cases sea water is circulated through the coils in tne wells containing 

 froaen fish to hasten thawing. Thawing or partial thawing of fish 

 aboard the vessel facilitates unloading without the danger of breaking 

 or otherwise damaging the fish when th^ are removed from storage on 

 the boat. (Frozen fish are more easily damaged than thawed ones because 

 of the greater tendency for them to stick to the coils or to each other; 

 in handling during unloading such fish may be damaged when they are 

 pulled aparto) It also reduces the thawing time required at the cannery. 

 It is generally impossib3.e to completely thaw the fish aboard the vessel 

 because this would entail too much danger of spoilage should there be 

 a delay between the time the fish are unloaded and the canning process 

 begins. 



289 



