Mexican Tuna Boat Fleet Battered When Storm Lashed Ensenada Port

The storm that lashed Southern California also caused extensive damage to the fishing industry in Ensenada, Mexico, where officials said Tuesday that about two dozen boats were severely damaged, including at least three vessels that sank when the high winds whipped them against the rocks.

Estimates of the damage to the fishing industry ranged from a “conservative” $40-million figure put forward by Ernesto Ruffo Appel, Ensenada’s mayor, to amounts approaching $100 million or more by U.S. tuna experts.

“The port suffered major damage,” said Susana Espinoza, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Ministry of Communication and Transport.

The boats damaged included up to 14 tuna seiners, some of which will require extensive repair work, if they can be salvaged at all, officials said.

All of the damaged tuna boats were idle at the time of the storm, officials said.

In Process of Selling Boats

However, the Mexican government--which held title to all the damaged tuna vessels--was in the process of selling the boats with hopes of expanding the resurgent tuna-fishing industry. Ensenada is Mexico’s principal tuna-fishing center, with some 50 boats based there.

Last year, the Mexican tuna-fishing industry generated more than $120 million in sales, according to U.S. tuna experts.

Juvenal Hernandez, director of the principal fisheries-industry trade group in Baja California, described the loss of vessels as a major blow. But he added that the full impact of the loss on the tuna industry will not be felt for some time because the damaged boats had been sitting idle--some for as long as three years.

“We’ll feel it six months or a year from now,” said Hernandez, who estimated the damage at $80 million or more.

In the early 1980s, the Mexican government embarked on a massive buildup of the nation’s tuna fleet, including major improvements at the Ensenada port. Soon afterward, however, the tuna industry experienced an economic downturn, which left many of the boats idle. Yet the industry has rebounded in the past two years, noted August Felando, president of the American Tunaboat Assn., a San Diego-based trade group representing U.S. owners.

‘A Great Loss’

“Mexico has been trying to struggle to come back, and to lose those boats has to be a great loss,” Felando said.

Officials said the storm did more damage to the tuna-fishing industry than any other storm in recent memory. Sunk and damaged boats dotted the Ensenada harbor on Tuesday, officials said.

The brunt of repair costs will fall on the Mexican government, which has its hands full handling the nation’s worst economic crisis in half a century.

Apart from the vessels, officials said that various port facilities--including breakwaters, docks, warehouses and at least one port road--also suffered considerable damage from the wind and high surf. Officials hope to repair the port facilities by this summer, said Espinoza, the government spokeswoman.

Also lost, officials reported, were 3,000 tons of salt and 4,000 tons of fertilizer that were being stored at the dock.

Assessing the Damage

On Tuesday, federal and local officials were still attempting to assess the damage, while workmen labored to repair the port. Officials of several government agencies, including the Ministry of Fisheries, were participating in the discussions.

Although estimates varied considerably, authorities and others reported that between 22 and 26 boats suffered serious damage; officials said between 3 and 9 were sunk outright.

Among the damaged boats were the tuna craft, a dredging vessel, a tugboat, a shark-fishing boat, a research vessel, a kelp-gathering vessel and a cargo boat.

There was only one injury reported--a ship worker who suffered a broken arm, officials said.

Times stringer Miguel Cervantes contributed to this story.