Economy of Scales

Sardines - the guilt free fish - environmentally correct; good for you and, The Sunday Edition would like to add, the best buy in town.

Sardines were once the working man's lunch, But with the invention of the tuna fish sandwich in the 1950's they began to fall from grace.

This past spring the last sardine processing plant in the US closed down in the state of Maine. There were headlines and a lot of weeping and wailing from patriotic readers. No more American sardines. Will we have to eat Chinese sardines? Thai sardines? . Well, here's a little secret. The biggest sardine plant in the world, and the last on the continent, is still packing, still thriving in Black's Harbour New Brunswick.

Over the years Canadians have cornered the north American sardine industry. Connors Brothers has been canning sardines in Blacks Harbour since 1889. There was a can of Brunswick's in every soldiers ration kit in both world wars, they exported to all corners of the world and sardine heads and tails fertilized gardens across the nation. Blacks Harbour, population 960 perched on the Bay of Fundy, is an old company town. Its streets are lined with identical, if somewhat faded houses. For generations the women of Blacks Harbour have been packing in the plant and the men have been out, fishing sardines in the weirs, one of the oldest ways of catching fish.

The modern survival of this sardine outpost is a story of the tenacity of the people, the health of the fish and a whole lot of corporate gymnastics. Here is Karin Wells' documentary, Economy of Scales.

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