“TUNA IMPORT CURBS URGED BY FISHERMEN – San Diego’s tuna industry is being caught in a squeeze… between low-cost fish from South America and Japan on the one: hand and by high costs of domestic production on the other. ~ Boat owners, who have millions of-dollars invested in the industry, predict that the tuna business will be killed here if the squeeze doesn’t stop. ~ They see little hope of reducing their own costs of production, which are allied to the high American standards of living. ~ The only alternative, they claim, is to reduce foreign imports. So far, these imports have been increasing steadily without restriction from quotas or tariffs.
IMPORTS SCORE RECORD
San Diego fishermen were worried last year when foreign imports of frozen tuna into California ports alone hit a new high of 82,500,000 pounds (equivalent to 41,250 tons – ed.). ~ With frozen tuna imports to San Diego and San Pedro totaling more than 38,000,000 pounds for the first four months of 1955, the San Diego fleet predicts disaster for the industry unless the government takes immediate action to slap quotas on imports.
REMAIN IN PORTS
Since last fall, San Diego tunaboats have been forced to remain in port for a month or two at a time with fish on board. ~ About 70 clippers now are in port with tuna in their holds. Some boats have been waiting 50 days to unload. ~ Operators claim they have to make three trips to make a profit; two trips just to pay expenses.
BOAT SITS AT DOCK
‘I have a $300,000 boat (equivalent to $3,368,721 today – ed.) sitting at the dock,’ says ED SOARES VARLEY of 448 Rosecrans St., owner-skipper of the clipper ‘SUN VICTORIA’. ‘Expenses go on every day. We’ve got a full load of fish aboard. We sit here while the canneries buy tuna from Japan and South America.’ ~ Tuna imports into the United States from South America and Japan show a 63% increase for the first three months of 1955 over the same period for 1954, according to Mr. Harold Cary, Manager of the AMERICAN TUNABOAT ASSOCIATION (A.T.A.) here. ‘What are we going to do?’, he asks? ‘Throw the San Diego tuna industry down the drain? Let’s face it. Japan can produce fish a lot cheaper than we can. Their fleet is growing while ours is dwindling away.’
CALLS FOR CONFERENCE
Cary called today for an immediate Japanese-American Tuna Conference to set a reasonable quota on imports. He regards Japan as San Diego’s major competitor. ~ The industry feels that the Japanese should have 30% of the American market. This, roughly, was the total of Japanese imports of frozen tuna last year. South American imports last year ran about one–third of Japanese shipments. ~ Capt. JOE S. ROGERS, of 416 Rosecrans St., a pioneer of the San Diego tuna industry and managing owner of two clippers, puts it this way: ‘The Japanese have to live, too. We don’t want to freeze them out of the market. We wants them to have a fair share. Capt. JOHN CARDOSA, of 3145 Carleton St., part owner of the clippers ‘NOTRE DAME’ and ‘CRUSADER’, says; ‘We’ve got to keep the boats sailing to keep this industry alive. How can any business keep going when it can’t produce. That’s what’s happening to us. Too many Japanese imports…, our boats can’t produce.’ ~ Capt. DAN CURRIER of 4383 Coronado Ave., skipper of the clipper ‘CHARLENE’, says his boat has been tied up since before Easter. ‘Some people think this business is all profit,’ he says. ‘My boat costs me $16,000 a year for insurance alone. Our expenses were $43,000 last trip. Most of it was spent in San Diego for fuel, groceries, and shipyard repairs.’ ~ Capt FRANK MEDINA, owner of the ‘BERNADETTE’, says his clipper has been in port for six weeks now with fish on board. ~ On the last trip, the only one so far in 1955, the boat grossed $92,000, he says. Expenses ran $22,000, including $3,600 for a license to fish in Ecuadoran waters. The boat pays $2,500 City Tax. ~ Capt. JOE MADRUGA says his big clipper ‘PARAMOUNT’ has been waiting 67 days to unload. ‘Maybe we’ll unload in three more weeks,’ he says. ‘Why should the canners take our fish? They buy it cheaper from Japan.’ ~ Mr. FRANK PEARY, managing owner of two boats, says if Japanese imports continue to increase “there won’t be any San Diego tuna fleet three years from now.’ ~ ‘A 30% quota is the answer,” says Capt. CLARENCE GONZALES of the clipper ‘VICTORIA’. ‘If we don’t get action soon, there will be more boats leaving San Diego to fish out of PUERTO RICO and PERU.”
(*Source: San Diego EVENING TRIBUNE – Thursday, May 26, 1955 – Pg. 16)