Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-08-23
THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.
A Business That Has Flourished for Many
Years on the Brittany Coast.


A Business That Has Flourished for Many
Years on the Brittany Coast.
Apropos of the new regulations just
issued by the French Government, the
Revue DIES Beur Mondes has published
an interesting account of the sardine
industry, which has SO long fourished
on the coast of Brittany. As but little
is known about the true sardine, even
in France, and of course much less in
this country, our readers may like to
see the facts.
When it reaches its full growth the
true sardine is little smaller than the
herring; at this stage it is fat, oily
and of mediocre taste. 1t weighs be-
tween a quarter and a third of pound.
This fish, which on the coast of Corn
wall is known as the pilchard, and in
Brittany as the ''winter sardine,n APP
pears toward the close of the cold sea-
son and vanishes by June. It, is then
more than two years old. This sardine
is sailed, but never preserved in oil.
1t is the so-called summer sardine
which is fried in boiling oil, packed in
tin boxes, and shipped all over the
world. This is the same fish as the
pilchard or winter sardine, only it is a
year younger. 1t arrives off the Breton
coast in vast shoals during June, and
thenceforward until November it is
taken in nets, the bait used being the
sailed roe of the Goldfish or minute
species of shrimp procured in the
neighborhood. Whittier it goes and
where it passes the cold season is I'M
known, but it is believed to be deep
water fish, which only in the months
mentioned comes to the surface. This
is certain, however, that it is met with
only nearly that section of the Atlantic
coast of Europe which extends from
Cornwall to Portugal.
The sardine industry has of late
years passed through severe crisis.
The take was small during the whole
period from 1880 to 1886, with the ex-
ception of the year 1888. In 1886 the
value of the sardine in oil exported fell
to $2,800, 900, or less than half of what
it was seven years before. Last year,
on the other hand, was extremely
profitable to the canning factories, al
though the prices paid for the fresh
sardines per thousand ranged from
sixty cents to ten dollars. The COM
petition to which the French manu-
facturers are subjected comes not only
from the United States, where the fish
used is not the true sardine, but also
from Portugal, where the genuine fish
is procurable and where extensive can.
ming establishments have been recent.
ly inaugurated. Nevertheless, there
are certain French Gamers whose
trademarks are widely-known
and whose products everywhere
command prices relatively high.
Their control of market il
probably due to the fact that they are
careful to employ nothing but veritablt
olive oil of a superior quality. The
vast quantity of cotton-seed oil annual
ly shipped from Alexandria to Mar.
settles raises the suspicion that some
French sardine Gamers may expose
themselves to the same charges that
have been leveled at their American
rivals. At all events, it follows that
the exquisite flavor of certain French
product is owing partly to the quality
of the oil, and partly to the fact that
only genuine sardlnes are used ant
moreover, that they are washed, evils
cerated and fried within an hour OF
two after they are caught No fish de
! teriorates more rapidly after removal
from the water than the sardine.
The French Government has recently
forbidden the use of the large, capa
cious and improved nets, by which
huge multitudes of the summer sar
dine could be drawn in at stroke
This prohibition was issued in con
formity with the wishes of the Breton
fishermen, who ascribe the crisis tt
which their industry has been subject
ed to the sweeping reduction of tn,
fish by the new-fangled implements
But as the large seines are employed
by their Portuguese competitors, thu
French Gamers naturally protes
against this interference of the state