THE ORIGINS OF CANNED TUNA
The sardine was the main fish that people used to eat in the late 1800’s and at the beginning of the 1900’s. Southern California was one of the main areas where fishing of sardines took place, San Diego in particular. Due to a combination of poor conditions in the ocean and excessive fishing in 1903, the sardine catch was extremely poor. Albert P. Halfhill, a canner in the San Diego Bay, discovered he was headed to having too many empty tins for sardines; he therefore came up with a way to fill them. He tested things out by packing the empty cans with albacore tuna, which used to be locally caught. Albacore is seen as a species that is highly migratory and travels annually to the West Coast. They were always available and easily offered the fish to fill up the readily available empty cans. Halfhill was able to sell over 700 cases in his first year and was already producing over 400,000 cases every year by 1914 (Nudi 2015).
Nudi (2015) argues that, the demand for canned tuna rose at the beginning of the World War 1. Canned tuna offered a food that was rich in protein while being portable and convenient for the field soldiers. The demand led to the expansion of the tuna fleet from San Diego and venture more into the pacific. The demand outperformed the albacore supply, leading to more fishing for different tuna species. In the year 1954, the United States was the largest producer and consumer of tuna. There had been a change in the boats that were used during those early years. They used to make only one-day trips for fishing, and then returned back home late in the evening. They could not stay for long since they were not able to hold the caught fish for long periods without ice. The newer boats have inbuilt freeing systems for the caught tuna and can even spend up to a month at sea without the need to go back home: This enabled the extension of fleet ranges since they could go for miles offshore while looking for tuna.
Initially, the popularity of canned tuna did not rise particularly fast, but after some initiating several promotion tactics, such as urging grocers to offer it out to customers while they purchased coffee, it soon turned into one of the quickest developing industries along the harbour. A man who has been credited for coming up with the canning process, Wilber Wood, started his own company in 1912, which he later sold in 1914.
Over the course of history, canning tuna has grown and more companies have ventured into the business as well. In 1903, California Fish Company came up with a fresh process on canning tuna. During those early days, tuna used to be available on markets of fresh fish. A few different techniques were used to change the image of tuna, like the fish had to be steamed white in order to get it to households in America, as well as marketing it like an affordable chicken substitute. There was further growth in the market of canned tuna during its inception, a small group of fishermen from Japan arrived. These fishermen provided the much-needed expertise from their native region and ended up being extreme aid in tuna fishing in North America.
