Resumen del producto

The commercial capture and processing of abalone on the west coast of the Baja California peninsula was started one hundred years ago. One of the men most involved in pioneering the industry was the Japanese Kondo Masaharu (Estes, 1977). A native of the Kyoto Prefecture, Masaharu earned a degree in agriculture from the Tokyo Tekoku Daigaku (the present day University of Tokyo). After graduation, he became a faculty member of the Imperial Fisheries Institute of Tokyo. While serving in this capacity, he was appointed to in­vestigate the state of fishing technology outside Japan. So, in 1908 Masaharu visited California to observe the activities of the fishing fleet. There he discovered the potential of the Mexican fisheries. Continuing his world tour, he visited Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and Russia. He crossed Russia via the Trans Siberian Railway to Dairen in China where he embarked by ship for Japan, arriving home in 1911. Early in 1912, Ma­saharu returned to the United States, and obtained concessions to fish on the west coast of Baja California. He arrived at Magdalena Bay in 1913, with the diver Yamasaki and his assistant Watanabe. They utilized a diving suit and a heavy metal helmet to collect abalone. Months later, the entire operation was moved 250 north to Cape San Roque, where a new abalone camp was established. Within several weeks, another abalone camp was set up at South Bay on Cedros Island. By the close of 1913 a semi-permanent fish camp was built at the middle of the peninsula at Puerto San Bartolome, better known to west coast fishermen and mariners as Turtle Bay. By the end of 1914, the coastline from San Roque Bay to Punta Eugenia was a re­gion of abalone capture, including Cedros and Natividad Islands. In 1929, the resident Japanese fishermen at Turtle Bay completed the construction of a cannery and wharf. The methods of processing and canning of abalone were optimized, and it has changed little during the next 80 years. All these events marked the establishment of the abalone industry in Baja California. Today, this industry is operated by groups of local fishermen under a very well observed regimen of sustainability.

Palabras clave:

Para obtener una copia del documento contacta la personal de la biblioteca a través del correo bibliocicimar{a}ipn.mx