Tuna Crisis on the Oregon Coast

by Christine Bruun

Reality reared its ugly head as I stood at the docks in Charleston, Oregon, where I had come to pay my respects to those who have been lost at sea ... remembered on a plaque at the base of the bronze statue that stands near the harbor.

It wasn't the raucous cries of the seagulls I heard, but the cries of hundreds of independent fishermen moored along side the docks with their catches still in their holds. 100's of tons of tuna lay frozen and unloaded on the docks from the catch of U.S. Trawlers, (some from as far away as Alaska), as canneries fill their orders, not with American caught fish, but with Asian and Canadian catches.

As I walked along the docks gazing in awe at the trawlers of every size and color, and the crews, (many family operations handed down over years), forced to sit idle, unable to unload their tuna, I wondered at the real price we are paying for that can of tuna sitting on the supermarket shelf. All the while, many fishermen are forced to sell their tuna one fish at a time to passersby who have learned of the plight and are coming to the docks to buy the fresh bled tuna. I watched a fisherman cutting up tuna for local customers.

Is this just the tip of an iceberg that threatens to sink us? Do we fully understand what NAFTA is costing us in the loss of more and more jobs, family owned businesses that may have to close, going the way of the mom and pop stores and the small family owned farms?

More and more of our businesses are turning to foreign countries, more imported goods find their way here while those same foreign countries still bar our goods and products from import into their countries.

Is it really fair to expect our companies to compete with goods produced with labor costs so low that no American could afford to live on it? Americans have worked long and hard to create a business world that is strong and healthy while other countries failed to do anything to help their own people's suffering. Are we expected now to subsidize their gross negligence at our own expense? Those who do the work, reap the benefits.

Because Japan has a failed economy, should we allow them to flood the market with products that they can't sell at home, putting our fishermen out of business? What do we get in return? I haven't seen the price of tuna decrease even though the canneries are paying the foreign fishermen 1/2 what the American's were getting just last year. Is the real price going to be much more, paid in consequences we haven't yet begun to see?

Are we choosing to not look beneath the surface? Are we going to suffer a fate far worse for our own negligence?

Lance Christopher, the owner of a small trawler out of Juneau, Alaska, named the Joy Maria, explained it to me in simple English. "I have 10 tons of tuna sitting in the bottom of my boat that I can't sell. Even if the cannery would buy it, which they won't, They are only offering between $700.00-$800.00 per ton. We were getting $1600.00 per ton last year. "

"Only 6% of the tuna are from domestic sources. The rest of the 94% is from Asian and Canadian caught tuna. They are flooding the market," Mark Peterson of North Bend, Oregon, says. (Lance on the right, Mark on the left).

He stated that these foreign trawlers are driving the prices down and preventing them from selling their tuna to the canneries who are only taking 1 to 2 tons max. Not much good when you have 10's and 100's of tons of tuna sitting frozen in their hulls. 

The cost of keeping them on ice is enough to break the smaller fishermen. Many of the boats, (some that have been in the family for generations), have FOR SALE signs posted on them. They may not be able to hang on much longer. One such boat, is the Cape Foul Weather, owned and operated by a 23 year old fisherman who was handed the reins by his father. It would be a shame to see the family tradition fall by the way side.

The Fishermen I talked to blamed it on government, saying that the government has turned a deaf ear to their cries for justice, saying let the lowest price win out. This is a cry we are hearing again and again as we find our job markets disappearing as more and more jobs are sent over seas where wages can run as low as 10 cents per hour. How can we hope to compete with that?

My concern is for our children and grandchildren. Do we want to see our sons and daughters have less than we have had even after all the hard work we have put in, trying to build something we can leave them. After years and years of sweat and tears, what legacy will we leave our children and grandchildren?

I asked Lance Christopher, "What can the average person do to help the situation here?"

Christopher replied, "Boycott tuna, especially Bumble Bee, Star-Kist, and Tri Marine."

A Fisherman's recipe for cooking fresh tuna

 The Ghost of the Coast

 Oregon Coast Article