“UNSUBSIDIZED LINES PRESS FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT AID – The necessity for providing government aid for un-subsidized merchant & fishing vessels was stressed this week to the U.S. Senate MERCHANT MARINE & FISHERIES COMMITTEE. All of the nation’s coastal and inter-coastal freighters and tramp ships are of WWII vintage. 60% of the tankers are 16 years of age or older, and about 66% of the fishing fleet is at least 17 years old, and the average age of the Great Lakes fleet is 45 years…
… Mr. EDWARD SILVA, President of the AMERICAN TUNABOAT ASSOCIATION (A.T.A.), said that only 6 tuna vessels have been built for the San Diego fishing fleet in Puget Sound shipyards in the last 3 years. And *NO* TUNA BOAT HAS BEEN BUILT *IN* A SAN DIEGO BOATYARD SINCE 1959.”
(*Source: San Diego UNION & Daily Bee newspaper – Friday, July 2, 1965 – Pg. 35)