Port of San Diego Gives Viewers Historical Glimpse of the Tuna Industry

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Contact: John Gilmore (619) 341-5684

The Port of San Diego has produced a 9-minute video that will take viewers back to the boom years of the tuna fishing industry when San Diego was known as the tuna Capitol of the world.

Writer Barbara Moreno and videographer Glenn Batuyong, of the Port’s Communications & Community Services Department, produced the segment based on interviews with people familiar with the industry that at one time employed 17,000 workers and generated $65 million in annual economic impact in the region.

Interviews were conducted with cannery workers, family members whose relatives worked on the tuna vessels and with those whose family members were employed in the tuna canneries. Included in the production are several historical photos of the canneries, the mostly female workers inside the canneries at their work stations and the tuna fishermen.

The video was produced to coincide with the dedication on Saturday, Sept. 26, of an artwork that pays tribute to the thousands of people employed in the local tuna canning industry. The dedication will begin at 10:30 a.m. The artwork, “The Cannery Workers Tribute – Parque del Sol,” is located at the southwest corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and Crosby Road.

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