Fishing for the Stories Left

FISHING FOR THE STORIES LEFT



FISHING FOR THE STORIES LEFT

SELF-PUBLISHED BY CHRISTINE KAO IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA JUNE 2022 ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © CHRISTINE KAO WRITTEN, DESIGNED, PRINTED, AND BOUND BY CHRISTINE KAO IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

CHRISTINE KAO FISHING FOR THE STORIES LEFT



01 Preface 08 The Before 17 Fieldwork 1 ﹘ Fish Harbor 39 Fieldwork 1 ﹘ Sardine Street, Cannery Street, Wharf Street & Terminal Way 53 Fieldwork 2 ﹘ San Pedro Fish Market & 22nd Street Landing 71 Fieldwork 2 ﹘ Cabrillo Beach 85 Fieldwork 3 ﹘ Stephen M White Drive & Cabrillo Jetty 103 Fieldwork 3 ﹘ Cabrillo Pier 127 The After 133 Appreciation



PREFACE Inspired and informed by research that point to the immense changes in Los Angeles Harbor throughout the past decades, the photo book Fishing for the Stories Left documents narratives and visuals in which the nation’s largest fishing port and the world’s most prosperous canning industry were once nurtured. The project investigates factors that play into the declination of San Pedro’s fishing industry and explores how individuals who work closely with the water express their relationships with the ocean. Through interviewing and taking portraits of fishermen and staffers on boats, along with photographing the industrialized landscape around the Port of Los Angeles, the book aspires to serve as a part of an archive of the once flourishing fishing community in its form today. Preface 01





THE BEFORE “While the Hollywood film industry was in its infancy, a less glamorous industry with its own stars was already underway along the shores of Southern California: the West Coast tuna industry,” writes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. I couldn’t speak for everyone from abroad, but having lived my whole life in Taiwan, the fishing industry is far from anything that would first come to mind when I think of Los Angeles. Yet, a tuna icon lives on the seal of the Los Angeles County, representing the fishing industry that brought prosperity in the first half of the 20th century. The first cannery on Terminal Island pioneered the technique of tuna canning, according to Los Angeles Conservancy. As recorded in their article “Japanese-American History at Terminal Island,” Japanese immigrants brought knowledge from home and introduced the practice of commercial fishing to local fishermen. As canneries and fishing businesses bloom in San Pedro, a Japanese fishing village also came to life. Long Beach Post Opinions Editor Tim Grobaty dubbed Terminal Island “the world leader in tuna production” up until the end of World War II. In 2012, however, the island appeared on the list of One of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in the United States, as curated by the National Trust For Historic Preservation. What happened in these years? Following the Pearl Harbor Attack, the Japanese community that backboned the bustling fishing industry around Port of Los Angeles was vacated. Erased and lost on Terminal Island were not only the Japanese village and its rich heritage. As pointed out by Los Angeles Times staff writer Louis Sahagún in his 2001 coverage, the fishing and canning industries see a declination for factors including “foreign competition, soaring fuel and labor costs, fluctuating market prices and government regulations.” Two decades after his article “Commercial Fishing Industry Is a Waning Force in L.A. Harbor,” What is the seaside around the Los Angeles Harbor like today? How have the demographics on the land shifted? Have fishers noticed more differences? Have ecological factors played into the fall of commercial fishing in L.A.? I enter my first fieldwork with lingering questions. The Before 08



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10 At the Terminal Island Japanese Fishing Village Memorial, a glass reads in both English and Japanese, “Black current off our shore Fishes so plentiful yet, hardships parents endured we remember and honor forever our village no more” Consisting of a sculpture of two fishermen, a walkway, and plaques scripted with donors’ names, the memorial,was established in 2002 to remember the Japanese communities’ fundamental role in building the island’s fishing industry as well as the forcible removal of them as anti-japanese sentiment grows following the Pearl Harbor attack.



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12:51 PM ﹘ 4:46 PM , APRIL 25TH FIELDWORK 1 FISH HARBOR

“HOW WOULD YOU HAVE MORE SKILLS OR MORE INPUT THAN A MAN WHO HAS LIVED ON THE OCEAN HIS WHOLE LIFE?” Fieldwork 1 18

25 Returning from a fishing trip near 27 Dan Kelly, a father of 12 children and the San Clemente Island hours ago, a sports fisherman sits across his boat named Gina Sea. With more Jocko Miladinovich sits inside a Steiger than 50 years of fishing experience, Craft boat that he has owned for he observes the decrease of kelps about a decade. Growing up in Lomita, that are constantly torn away by the Miladinovich has been fishing since he gigantic ships allowed into the sea. was 8 years old and surfed almost his whole life. “I am very secure with the 28 A carpenter and a commercial ocean,” Miladinovich said, comparing fisherman since his teenage years, himself to people who fear the water. Mike Shannon rests inside the boat “I respect the ocean. They can take that he assembled. Described by him you at any time, but I enjoy it. I feel at as “a little playboat,” it is the smallest home at the ocean.” that he has owned in the commercial industry. Prior to fishing commercially, Miladinovich recalled that he used to he had cut fish for sale and owned his drift around the rock by the Federal first boat at an even younger age. He Correctional Institution, Terminal also had the experience of working on Island as a kid and was able to catch tuna boats. halibut easily, yet there aren’t as many halibut out there nowadays, Shannon said that the species that according to him. he has been targeting, such as Rock Cod, Swordfish, and Sea Bass remain Discussing the tuna cannery history populated in Southern California in San Pedro, “It was a big thing, in throughout the years. He emphasized the 50s,” he said, yet quickly noted his commitment to selective fishing, that the tunas have been fished pointing out that there are several out. He added that the fish are on ways to achieve it. For example, he their way back but that the damages carries a scale on his boat to measure throughout the years can cause the the size of his catches, letting go of recovery process to be slow. He siad female fish and male fish that haven’t that he pays attention to the sizes of passed the weight to go through at the fish caught, putting the ones that least a cycle of breeding. “I want my are still maturing back into the ocean. grandchildren to fish,” he stated and Fieldwork 1 19

added that many other fishermen 29 The harbor peeked from the window share the same wish. Another way on Shannon’s boat. to ensure sufficient breeding stocks, according to Shannon, is to use larger 31 Structures and objects inside the hooks that smaller fish couldn’t bite. cabin of Shannon’s boat. However, Shannon also noted 44 Clockwise from the top left photo: that not all fishers fish selectively. ducks, pigeons, humans, and a sea “There were several fisheries that lion captured in small scales as were destructive,” he said, naming compared to the enormous industrial specifically the “draggers” and structures behind them. “gillnetters.” He described how drag nets that go below the surface 51 An abandoned storefront with the can shuffle rocks and disturb fish’s sign in Kanji that reads 江南 (Kōnan) habitats, forcing them to move. becomes the only trace of Japanese heritage, apart from the memorial, Other than the concern over people found during the first field. who fish indiscriminately, Shannon also commented on the regulation placed on fishers by the government. “Our government is abusing their power of the ocean,” Shannon cited the restriction on gear length and fishing weight restriction. He believes that political factors and profits rather than the status of the fish stock drive the policies around fishing. “How would you have more skills or more input than a man who has lived on the ocean his whole life?” he questioned. “I think the fishermen should have much more of a say than some politicians.” Fieldwork 1 20

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12:51 PM ﹘ 4:46 PM , APRIL 25TH FIELDWORK 1 SARDINE STREET CANNERY STREET WHARF STREET & TERMINAL WAY



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