The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-08
Fishermen Face
Loss of Boats
By 4 Fisherman Correspondent

SAN DIEGO, Calf Many of the
market fishermen in San Diego
have had to give up fishing, and
some Of them their boats, because
they couldn't make enough to feed
their families. Lots of them are
tying up their boats and going On
the SERA-that's the only way they
can get something for their families
to eat, under the present condi-
tons here.
Market fishermen get about two
to three cents a pound for fish that
is merely taken up to the down
town stores where it retails for
price of from ten to eighteen cents
a pound At the end of the week
these fishermen are in debt for
gasoline and oil which is sold at
high cost to the fishermen. Food,
clothing and fuel has gone up, but
the profits of the fishermen have
gone down.
In spite of these miserable condi-
lions facing the fishermen, they are
prosecuted and even arrested by the
state officials if they don't get
licences to fish, and boat permits
etc. And the county tax collec-
tor is always threatening us if the
taxes aren't paid by such and such
date, our boats will be seized and
sold for taxes.
After the tuna fishermen have
had to go 1900 miles below San
Diego on the banks there to catch
their fish, by the time they get
back with a fair catch some of the
fish has spoiled, but they get no
thing for it, after it cost them
fuel, ice and labor to catch it. al
though it goes to the fertilizer
plants. The workers in the can
neries axe working under poor pay
and bad conditions, too.
This summer schools of albacore
and blue fin tuna come to the coast
of San Diego that hadn't been seen
in these parts in several years. This
was because there was no target
practice by the navy here most of
this year The war maneuvers and
firing of the big guns has driven
much fish away from the banks
here.
The sardines are being ruined too,
here, by the oil companies, and the
big shipping companies. The oil
tankers OF the Union Oil and
Standard Oil companies wash out
their tanks leaving a coat of oil on
the surface of the water which
kills the spawn along the beeches
and kelp beds. This oil is found
floating and polluting the beaches
as far south as the fish banks off
Mexico and Panama. Other boats
pump out oil from the bilges which
pollutes the water. All boats over
30 tons should be equipped with
grease traps. 1t would save many
hundreds Of tons Of fish for food.
What is running the sardines too,
is the fertilizer plants. Hundreds
of tons Of sardines are caught only
for the reduction plants, not for
food, since the canneries figure they
can't make any profit packing them
Some of the reduction plants
around San Pedro are operated on
boats. and these along have used up
100000 tons of valuable fish food to
make fertilizer. The state fisheries
officials claim over 100000 tons of
sa-dines have been caught this
season, where only 250000 tons
should have been caught, if the
sardines schools are not to be ex-
terminated.
1t makes some Of us fishermen
get pretty hot, when we think about
these hundreds of thousands of
tons Of good food being wasted this
way when millions of workers all
over the country could use it to
stall off starvation a while longer.