BEN ICHIYASU began his fishing career in San Francisco at 18 years of age. At 21, he bought his first sardine boat. When World II started, he was forced to give-up his boat. Like many Japanese-Americans, Ben was forcibly moved to internment camps after Pearl Harbor. As a way out of the internment camp, Ben Ichiyasu volunteered to join the U.S. Army and carried the proud distinction of being one of the few military officers commissioned to lieutenant in the battlefield. His last assignment was serving in Japan after World War II. When asked if he had any memories of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, he said that when stationed in Leyte, he was running up the stairs without looking and ran smack into the general. When he looked up, the general just smiled at him and said "Son, watch your step". Fluent in Japanese, he spent a few years with the U.S. military in Japan after the war. He then took early retirement and returned to California. His first job after his military service was a stockbroker. Many years later, he said he “made and lost his fortune within a year in the stockmarket” so he had to find a real job. His next job was selling fish nets in the U.S. for a Japanese company. It was there that he found his true calling.
In 1958, BEN ICHIYASU established CASAMAR in California. He drove all around the U.S. Coast selling fishing nets from the back of his Chrysler.
He quickly opened his first location outside the U.S. in Panama where there was a large fleet of sardine, shrimp, and mackerel boats. 50 years later, CASAMAR still maintains 4 retail stores throughout Panama servicing the tuna fishing fleets and artisanal market.
CASAMAR has been established worldwide for many years. It was the first private enterprise in the Panama Canal Zone which was an area controlled by the U.S. Military until the turn of the 21st Century. CASAMAR opened a sales and service facility in Mexico in the 1970s. When the canneries in San Diego moved to American Samoa, CASAMAR established a location there in the late 1970s. In 1981, CASAMAR purchased the Dillingham Shipyards in Guam and converted it to a full-service tuna ship repair and net repair facility. CASAMAR established its first Indian Ocean location in Seychelles in 1988. CASAMAR ECUADOR was established in 1994. In 2004, CASAMAR MAURITIUS was established as the 2nd location in the Indian Ocean. CASAMAR reopened in the Federated States of Micronesia in the state of Pohnpei.
In 2008, CASAMAR turned 50. CASAMAR has seen many changes in the tuna fishing industry and it has continually adapted to these changes, following the fleets wherever they go. CASAMAR has seen many changes in the places where they have been doing business for many years and CASAMAR must seek new opportunities in those places.
Growth is underway in Guam for the arrival of more than 8000 marines from Okinawa, Japan by 2014. It is hailed as “one of the largest movements of military assets in decades”. Casamar Guam, a dockside SHIP REPAIR facility located in Apra Harbor in Guam is building-up its SHIP REPAIR facilities to meet these challenges. The military is building up its infrastructure, increasing inner Apra Harbor’s capability to accommodate aircraft carriers. The protected deep-water of the Naval Base in Guam is home port to three attack submarines. Casamar has entered into teaming agreements with various companies to have the necessary resources and expertise to reach its full potential.
CASAMAR is owned by the BEN ICHIYASU TRUST. CASAMAR continues to uphold BEN’s legacy of SERVICE and INNOVATION.