Frozen tuna as shipped from Japan are free of any extensive 

 bruises resulting from poor handling by the fishermen. This may 

 be due more to rejection of bruised fish during grading in Japan 

 than to any more careful handling of the fish by the Japanese 

 fishermeno It sometimes happens, however, that the handling of 

 the frozen fish in transit results in additional bruising. Some- 

 times the fish are handled several times after arrival in this 

 country. The fish may be unloaded from a vessel in Portland, 

 Oregon or Seattle, Washington, transported to a cold storage 

 warehouse and placed therein. Later they may be taken from cold 

 storage, loaded into a refrigerator car and shipped to Astoria or 

 Grays Harbor and finally unloaded at the tuna cannery. In handling 

 the frozen tuna during such transfers, it is customary for the 

 workmen to use a steel hook on a wooden handle to lift or drag 

 the frozen fisho These are generally applied to the head or tail 

 of the fish. When used carelessly, and especially when the fish 

 are partially thawed, these hooks may cause considerable damage to 

 the fisho Thus when carelessly handled in transportation, Japanese 

 tuna may be more bruised and damaged than local fish. Ordinarily, 

 however, considerable care is taken in handling the frozen tuna, 

 and the Japanese fish are then received in better condition with 

 respect to bruising and similar damage than are domestic tunao 



There is considerable variation in the opinion of tuna packers 

 as to the degree of color difference in the flesh of tuna canned 

 from Japanese and American caught fish. Most packers believe that 

 in a species to species comparison, the color of the flesh of tuna 

 canned from the Japanese fish is lighter than from American caught 

 fisho Some persons interviewed thought that there was a tremendous 

 difference in this respect, others a lesser differencej a few 

 thought there was little or no difference in color. Those who 

 believed that a considerable color difference existed ascribed it 

 to better bleeding of the fish by the Japanese fishermen. Others 

 who found no difference said they were sure the Japanese did not 

 specially bleed their fish. An interesting theory to accoiint for ■ 

 the alleged difference in color was propounded ty one of the 

 packers. It was his opinion that Japanese tuna, caught on long- 

 lines, bleed from cuts made by the hook. Because the fish are 

 under the sea water he suggested that the sea water prevented 

 coagulation of the blood and without any Bpcecia-l attention ty the 

 Japanese fishermen the fish caught on long-lines were thoroughly 

 bled before they were ever lifted from the water. 



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