526 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
SARDINES. 
The most valuable of the marine products canned in oil is the preparation of 
small flslies of the herring family, in the form known generally as sardines. This 
industry was established at Nantes, France, about the year 1834, and it was introduced 
in the United States about 1875. It has reached its greatest development in Brittany, 
the most costly brands on the market being canned on that coast. Sardines are now 
prepared in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway, United States, Brazil, Mexico, etc., 
but the industry has three principal geographical centers: (1) the Mediterranean 
coasts, (2) the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic coasts of Spain, and (3) the coast of 
Maine. In each one of these regions methods are employed quite at variance with those 
used in the others. 
The preparation of sardines began in the United States about 1875 and has grad- 
ually increased in extent, though it was confined within comparatively narrow limits 
until 1880, when 13 new canneries were established, there being only 5 operated pre- 
viously. In 1886 there were 45 canneries, and since that year the value of the output 
has averaged about $2,000,000 annually, all prepared on the coast of Maine, and 
nearly all in the counties of Washington and Hancock. On the Maine coast 37 factories 
were engaged in canning sardines in 1889, 46 in 1892, and 60 in 1898. A few sardines 
are prepared also on the Pacific coast of the United States. 
SARDINE CANNING IN MAINE. 
The herring used in the sardine industry in Maine are from 5 to 10 inches in 
length, and are taken from the middle of April to the middle of December, by means of 
weirs, and to some extent in gill nets and seines. The present method of preparing 
these fish as sardines is as follows: 
On reaching the factory the fish are at once distributed along the middle of the 
cutting tables where they are quickly decapitated and eviscerated. It was formerly 
customary to remove the tails, but this is no longer practiced. As each fish is dressed 
it is thrown into a cutting box placed under the edge of the table. They are next 
washed by being dipped with a scoop net into a washing tank, through which water 
is constantly running, and are immediately immersed in strong brine from 15 minutes 
to 1 hour, the length of time depending upon the size and fatness of the fish, their 
freshness, and the condition of the weather. In cold weather, owing to their firmness, 
they must be salted longer than in the summer. As soon as they are sufficiently 
“struck” the herring are removed from the brine and allowed to drain in baskets. 
They are afterwards carried to the flaking room and arranged upon flakes, which are 
wooden frames about 3 feet long and 22 inches wide, filled in with wood or galvanized 
wire stretched across and separated by 1 or 2 inches, so as to give a free circulation of 
air and to touch the fish at only a few points, in order that evaporation may go on 
from all parts of the body. Each flake holds about 110 fish, placed in rows with the 
tails in the same direction, so that when fixed in the drying room, with the anterior 
part lowest, the moisture will more readily drip from them. 
Next comes the drying iirocess, which is of much importance, and great care must 
be observed that no decomposition occurs before it is completed. Originally the fish 
were dried in the open air by action of the sun, as is the present practice in France, 
