Last US sardine cans being packed in Maine

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

PROSPECT HARBOR, Maine — The intensely fishy smell of herring has been the smell of money for generations of workers in Maine who have snipped, sliced and packed the small, silvery fish into billions of cans of sardines on their way to Americans' lunch buckets and kitchen cabinets.

For the past 135 years, sardine canneries have been as much a part of Maine's small coastal villages as the thick Down East fog. It's been estimated that more than 400 canneries have come and gone along the state's long, jagged coast.

The lone survivor, the Stinson Seafood plant here in this eastern Maine shoreside town, shuts down this week after a century in operation. It is the last sardine cannery not just in Maine, but in the United States.

... Shortages have forced San Diego-based Bumble Bee to truck in much of the herring needed at the Maine plant from its other cannery in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, and from herring suppliers as far away as New Jersey. Even without the quota cuts, the plant was under pressure from shrinking consumer demand, increased foreign competition — primarily from China and Thailand — and thin margins and low prices on the retail market.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVsK0f2JvDUXLE49uat2Wsu1Ov2gD9F2OQR00

[bigtree]

1. 135 years

ended in my generation's lifetime.

So many stories like this. Sad.

[closeupready]

2. I love sardines, esp. the big meaty ones imported from Africa.

n/t

[Webster Green]

3. Sardines are herring?

I'll be damned! :shrug:

[jberryhill]

7. A "sardine" is not any particular kind of fish

It is any of several fishes prepared and packed in the manner referred to as sardines.

Any fish prepared and packed that way is a "sardine".

[DemoTex]

10. Sardines, bristlings, sprats, and kippers..

Small herring-like fish. I prefer King Oscar's Finest Bristling Sardines in Olive Oil. I also love Thom Jones' short stories that manage to work in mentions of King Oscar sardines.

[Tesha]

14. You have good taste WRT the King Oscar brislings; those are great sardines! (NT)

[Tesha]

15. And I just cooked Mr. Tesha a very nice dinner using those exact sardines, ...

some bread crumbs, onion, and a little garlic all sautéed in olive
oil and served over spinach fettuccine. I think it's safe to say that
he likes those sardines too! ;)

Tesha

[SteppingRazor]

4. Part of this is certainly economic, but I think part is just changing tastes as well.

People just don't dig sardines the way they used to.

And, hell, it's not as though changing tastes hasn't helped in the past. The only reason there's still such a thing as a North American Beaver is that people in Europe decided they preferred silk hats.

[eShirl]

5. My grandmother worked in a sardine factory.

in her own words
http://www.sevensteeples.com/phoebethomas7.html

[ensho]

6. climate change is reality - gone is gone

sorry for the people of Maine. now is the time for smart thinkers to find other ways for Mainers to make a living.

[eShirl]

8. "now is the time for smart thinkers to find other ways for Mainers to make a living."

I think we've got it covered, thanks.

[ensho]

11. that's good. what are some of the things you all are doing?

nt

[eShirl]

12. the 185 or so people who worked there are the same skilled workers who can work there

when the plant shifts to processing other seafood - as mentioned in the article, Bumble Bee has invested $11 million in the plant in recent years and it's not as if the end of sardine processing there has come upon the company as a complete surprise.

For the other million or so people in Maine, we already have other jobs we can do.

[ensho]

13. guess Bumble Bee is in denial - there are less and less tuna every

year.

and more and more mercury in fish

[aikoaiko]

9. Sardines packed with hot peppers is divine.

Sad to see the business and tradition go.

At least we have China.