Fishing and canneries

Japanese Americans found work at salmon canneries along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington, and their labor was welcomed in Alaskan towns such as Ketchikan and Petersburg as early as the 1890s. They traveled by ship to the cannery towns, where they slowly developed small communities whose population swelled with the yearly arrival of workers. Issei (Japanese immigrant) entrepreneurs started the oyster industry from scratch in Puget Sound. Japanese American oyster farms became thriving businesses before World War II.

Industry and employment (481)
Fishing and canneries (256)

Related articles from the Densho Encyclopedia :
Takahashi v. Fish and Game Commission

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256 items

vh Eiichi Yamashita Interview I Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-423-8)

Father's business importing oyster seed from Japan

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-423-8/

vh Eiichi Yamashita Interview I Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1000-423-7)

Father's early involvement in the oyster industry

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-423-7/

vh Eiichi Yamashita Interview I Segment 10 (ddr-densho-1000-423-10)

Description of father's oyster seed cooperative

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-423-10/

vh Shig Miyaki Interview Segment 3 (ddr-densho-1000-259-3)

Helping on fishing boats as a teenager

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-259-3/

vh Mako Nakagawa Segment 1 (ddr-densho-1000-66-1)

Father's background: eking out a living in an Alaskan cannery

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-66-1/

vh Mae Kanazawa Hara Interview Segment 1 (ddr-densho-1000-168-1)

Family background: father a fishery scientist

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-168-1/

vh Makoto Otsu Interview Segment 6 (ddr-densho-1000-497-6)

The practice of gillnet fishing on a river

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-497-6/

vh Makoto Otsu Interview Segment 4 (ddr-densho-1000-497-4)

Living in a company cabin owned by a fishing cannery

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-497-4/

vh Toshio Moritsugu Interview Segment 3 (ddr-densho-1000-318-3)

Growing up in Hawaiian fishing village called Fish Camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-318-3/

vh Toshio Moritsugu Interview Segment 2 (ddr-densho-1000-318-2)

Father's prewar fishing techniques

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-318-2/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1000-422-7)

Introduction of oyster seed from Japan

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-7/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 9 (ddr-densho-1000-422-9)

Description of oyster farm workers

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-9/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 21 (ddr-densho-1000-422-21)

Reestablishing the oyster farm after the war

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-21/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 10 (ddr-densho-1000-422-10)

Making good wages working on an oyster farm

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-10/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 6 (ddr-densho-1000-422-6)

Working on an oyster farm after graduating from high school

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-6/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 11 (ddr-densho-1000-422-11)

Being removed from the oyster farm station house after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-11/

vh Giro Nakagawa Interview Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-422-8)

The labor intensive nature of oyster farming

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-422-8/

vh Robert T. Ohashi Interview Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-350-8)

Meeting Japanese Americans from Seattle in the canneries

Nisei male. Born July 24, 1925, in Ketchikan, Alaska. Grew up in Ketchikan, where parents ran a store. During World War II, was removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and the Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, went with family to work for a time in …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-350-8/