There will be a lot of issues...

There will be a lot of issues on the table when management and labor in the maritime industries meet Wednesday--halibut, swordfish, octopus, shrimp and tuna, for instance, and enough salad to cover the waterfront.

The occasion is the fourth annual seafood feast sponsored by the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union and the Propeller Club, composed of people in the maritime transport industry.

“It’s one of the few times you will see management and labor sitting down at the same table and enjoying themselves . . . a time when nobody is upset with anybody else,” says Joe Young, a member of the ILWU Marine Clerks Union, Local 63, and one of the event’s organizers. And you don’t have to negotiate for extra helpings: A $25 ticket entitles you to all you can eat, plus a cloth apron.

Young explained that you exchange your tickets for an apron, which you wear through the chow line--and if barbecue sauce doesn’t match your outfit, you better keep the apron on while you stow away the provisions. Beer, wine and soft drinks are also available.

Some of the dishes sound rather unusual. Octopus salad? Some diners may be quicker to embrace other seafood--things that don’t embrace back. Young confides that he was a bit apprehensive himself the first time he tried the octopus salad but swears, “I’ve never eaten anything so delicious in my life.”

The marine clerks of the ILWU, he explains, are in charge of all the paperwork involved in loading and unloading cargo at Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors.

The proceeds will provide each of six high school seniors in San Pedro and six in Los Angeles with a $500 college scholarship; the finalists are being selected now.

The feast will be held Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at one of the oldest warehouses in San Pedro, at 111 E. 22nd St. Reservations are required, and may be made by contacting any ILWU local office or calling (818) 951-2842.

About 600 are expected to attend. Landlubbers are welcome.