From the start of the 20th century through the 1970s, the American tuna fishing fleet and tuna canning industry were based in San Diego, "the tuna capital of the world". San Diego's first tuna cannery was founded in 1911, and by the mid-1930s the canneries employed more than 1,000 people. A large fishing fleet supported the canneries, mostly staffed by immigrant fishermen from Japan, and later from the Portuguese Azores and Italy whose influence is still felt in neighborhoods like Little Italy and Point Loma. Due to rising costs and foreign competition, the last of the canneries closed in the early 1980s.
What nickname was San Diego given by the tuna canning industry in the 1970s? How many jobs were created by the mid-1930s thanks to San Diego's tuna cannery that was developed in 1911? Why were the canneries ultimately closed by the early 1980s? Immigrants from what country were primarily hired by the fishing fleets that supported the canneries?? From what region in Portugal did immigrants come from to work in San Diego's fishing industry?