70 U. 8. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
of the packs can be obtained from Table 2. Statistics for the Maine 
pack are given for purposes of comparison.*® 
TasiE 2.—Sardine pack of the United States, 1926 


California (pilchards) 




Product Maine (herring) ! Product Mon- | S288 | San 
Pedro | Diego 
terey : : Total 
district | dis, | dis: 
trict | trict 
Cases Value Cases | Cases |Cases| Cases Value 
In olive oil, quarters 57, 674| $394, 474|| 14-pound oval (48 29) 841) 5-22 2,725) 32,566) $101, 693 
(100 cans). cans) .2 
In cottonseed oil, |1, 282, 967|5, 042, 572|| 1-pound oval (48 
quarters (100 cans). cans): 
In mustard: In tomato sauce_|1, 056, 301/809, 038/49, 941/1, 915, 280|6, 992, 473 
Quarters (100 117, 517| 537, 382 in mustard____-- 70, 222} 32, 302) 5,103] 107,627] 402,193 
cans). Soused2=372=2_ 1,929} 3, 285 244 5, 458 19, 417 
Three-quarters | 163,595) 629, 821 In other sauces__| 16,125 1, 406 eee 17, 531 65, 991 
(48 cans). 14-pound square (100 25 835 pe eae 13, 988 16, 823} 136, 441 
In other sauces, quar- 23, 802} 123, 139 cans) .3 
ters (100 cans) .? Papers square (100 496) 15, 982) 4,966} 21,444) 89, 226 
cans) .4 
Motal so 332° 1, 645, 555)6, 727, 388 Totals Ae 1, 177, 749/862, 013|76, 967/2, 116, 729|7, 807, 404 
Total (standard |1, 717, 537|---.----- ‘Total’ (standard |e. == == |Saenee oso oee 2) 093, 218\ eee 
cases) .5 cases) 5 

1 Includes 1 small factory in Massachusetts. 
2 Largely in tomato sauce. 
3 Largely in olive oil. 
4 Includes the pack of 6-ounce round cans, 100 to the ease; also a few cases of No. 10 cans, 6 to the case, 
Both packs have been converted to the basis of 14-pound cans, 100 to the case. 
5 Represents the various-sized cases changed to the uniform basis of one hundred 14-pound cans to the 
case for Maine herring and forty-eight 1-pound oval cans to the ease for California pilchards. 
The canning season in Monterey usually begins in July or August 
and runs into February or March. In San Pedro canning usually 
begins in November and continues well into March. The canning 
season in San Diego for large fish roughly corresponds to that for 
San Pedro. The canning of small fish, however, is continued through- 
out the spring. In general, the canning of large fish starts as soon 
as the fish begin to get fat and ends when they ‘get to be lean. 
The fish used for sardine canning is a pilchard (Sardina czerulea). 
It is a true sardine, in the sense understood by scientists, and is very 
similar to the pilchards canned in Europe.’ 
PRODUCTS 
Ordinarily 90 per cent or more of the sardines prepared in Cali- 
fornia are of the so-called ‘‘pound-oval” pack. A can of this 
product usually contains 4 to 10 large-sized pilchards, packed with 
spiced tomato sauce in a flat oval can containing normally 15 ounces, 
of which approximately 114 ounces are sauce. 
Small fish are canned in San Diego. They are usually put up with 
olive oil in regular key-opening ‘‘quarter-oil”’ and “‘half-oil’’ cans, 
holding 31% and 7 ounces, respectively. At times as many as 25 
and as few as 4 fish are packed in a quarter-oil can, about 8 to 12 
6 The survey referred to in footnote 3, p. 68, gives extensive statistical comparisons of the various branches 
of the world sardine industry. 
7The fish used throughout the world for sardine canning are listed in the following article: ‘‘The sar- 
dine of California,’ by Will F. Thompson. California Fish and Game, vol, 7, pp. 193-194. Sacramento, 
1921, 
