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The other Story: Global Tins and Industrial Fisheries
Tuna was of little commercial interest in the growing USA canning industry until it offered
an alternative to sardines during the shortages of the early 1900s (Bitting 1937, p. 842). From
1911 tinned tuna production rapidly expanded from 207 packs in 1907 to 683,540 in 1917 to
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1,227,013 in 1927 (1937, p. 843). By 1917 there were 36 canneries with over 1800 workers
along the West Coast of USA (Scofield 1954 cited in Miyake et al. 2010, p. 86). In Europe,
th
Spain’s tuna canning industry began in proper in the early 20 century mainly using albacore
and some bluefin, and skipjack and albacore in the Canary Islands (Miyake et al. 2010, p.
86). The 1960s saw a boom in the humble tinned tuna. Since then the worldwide production,
demand and market for tinned tuna increased along with the development of purse seine
fisheries in tropical waters (Miyake et al. 2010, p. xviii). World canned tuna production
increased from around 200,000 tonnes (net weight) in the mid-1970s to over 1 million tonnes
by the early 2000s (Miyake et al. 2010, p. xviii).
Fig. 1.9 Cannery (Malman, Los Angeles Times). Women appear to be sorting fillets to prepare them for
canning.
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