Manuel Medina, Tuna Pioneer, Dies at 93

Manuel Oliver Medina, a pioneer in the local tuna industry who came to America from Portugal nearly 75 years ago, died Friday at his Point Loma home at age 93.

Born Nov. 6, 1892, in the fishing village of Pico in the Azores Islands, Medina came to San Diego in 1912 after spending less than a year working on a farm in Half Moon Bay, near San Francisco.

“It (farming) wasn’t what he was used to doing,” said his brother, Frank Medina.

Manuel Medina was a fisherman.

“It was a tradition,” his brother said.

“My father was a great fisherman and a great whaler in the village. . . . He was very respected,” Frank Medina said.

Manuel Medina came to San Diego, said his brother, “with a bag on his back and three or four dollars in his pocket.” He came at the urging of some friends who were also from Pico and wanted him to join them in the city’s fishing industry.

Medina began his fishing career by hauling to San Diego lobsters that were caught off the Mexican coast by other fishermen. He later fished for salt fish, barracuda, yellowtail and other fish.

In 1924, he built San Diego’s first big tuna boat, the 66-foot Oceana. Two years later, he built the Atlantic, which was 110 feet long.

Medina’s largest fishing boat was the 150-foot Normandie, which he later used for seining--fishing with a large nylon net--after the San Diego tuna industry began to falter in 1960.

He was the first to use radar, to install refrigerated holds and to carry a wireless transmitter aboard ship.

Medina helped found the American Tunaboat Assn. on San Diego’s waterfront in 1926 and served as president in 1946. He retired from the tuna industry in the late 1940s but remained active in the association. Medina was also a founder of the Portuguese-American League in San Diego, as well as the S.E.S. Hall, a Portuguese community center. A Roman Catholic who maintained strong ties to the people of his homeland, Medina helped relocate other Portuguese families to San Diego, Frank Medina said.

Medina is survived by his wife of 68 years, Isabel; two brothers, Frank and Fernando Medina, of San Diego; 12 nephews, and eight nieces.

A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church, 1140 Evergreen St.