Production at Maine canneries has been sliding since peaking at 384 million cans in 1950. We don't have any more," Colson said as he watched workers swiftly pack cans in assembly line fashion. He got his first job as a youngster at another cannery, an hour's drive away, where his father was the manager. Outside, a billboard-sized sign of a fisherman in yellow oilskins holding an oversized can of Beach Cliff sardines, the plant's primary product, serves as reminder of Maine's long sardine history.Ĭolson has been in the sardine business for 38 years. The fish are blanched in a 208-degree steamer for 12 minutes and later, cooked in sealed cans at about 250 degrees for 35 minutes.Įar plugs muffle the cacophony of clanking cans, rattling conveyor belts, rumbling motors and hissing steam. Inside the spacious Stinson plant, dozens of workers in hairnets, aprons and gloves sort, pack and cook the herring that stream along flumes and conveyors. The Stinson packers are all women because they are thought to have stronger backs and better dexterity than men, according to plant manager Peter Colson. These days most of the canning is automated and the fish are cut with machines, though still packed by hand. By 1900 there were 75 canneries, where knife-wielding men, women and young children expertly sliced off heads and tails and removed innards before packing them tight into sardine tins. in Eastport.ĭozens of plants soon popped up, sounding loud horns and whistles to alert local workers when a boat came in with its catch from the herring-rich ocean waters off Maine.
sardine cannery opened in Maine in 1875, when a New York businessman set up the Eagle Preserved Fish Co. Instead, sardines are any of dozens of small, oily, cold-water fish that are part of the herring family that are sold in tightly packed cans.
Once considered an imported delicacy, sardines now have a humble reputation.
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