FORTIETH BIENNIAL REPORT 



25 



TUNA 



The period covered by this report was one of reconversion and expan- 

 sion in the tuna industry. With the decline in the sardine fishery, and 

 a tremendously expanded market for canned tuna, the attention of the 

 industry at the close of the war appeared to concentrate upon the possi- 

 bilities for an enlarged tuna fishery. The increase in the price of tuna, 

 and the success of the residual fleet of tuna boats attracted new and 

 additional capital into the fishery. A large fleet of new vessels was built 

 or under construction, existing canning plants were expanded, and 

 several new ones were organized. In 1941 there were 17 plants that packed 

 tuna in California. By June, 1948, the number had increased to 23. In 



Figure 8. Tuna bait boat returning to San Diego with a load of fish. 

 Photograph courtesy of "Tuna Fisherman" 



1941 a relatively stable fleet of 96 tuna boats, aggregating about 19,333 

 gross tons, fished with live bait throughout the year or a greater part 

 of it. By the end of 1946 (latest figures available at writing) , this number 

 had increased to 136 vessels, aggregating 27,526 gross tons ; and the totals 

 have increased steadily as the regular tuna boats, relinquished by the 

 Navy, have been reconverted to commercial fishing, and new clippers 

 have been built. Moreover, the failure of the sardine fishery in this bien- 

 nium has forced a large number of purse-seiners to seek other employ- 

 ment. The majority of these have turned to tuna, with the consequence 

 that this has materially increased the total tonnage of vessels engaged 

 in the tuna fishery. 



The keen competition for tuna between vessels and between fleets 

 has resulted in a number of important developments. For the first time 

 the supremacy of the California industry has been challenged by the 

 Pacific Northwest. Originally interested only in the local seasonal run 

 of albacore in the vicinity of the Columbia River, the plants there which 



