Maine: Last sardine cannery closing

In Maine, Last Sardine Cannery in the U.S. Is Clattering Out

Excerpt:

The cannery is one of the last vestiges of Maine’s industrial past, and in these final days, various archivists have been granted access to document its inner workings.

Ben Fuller, curator of the Penobscot Marine Museum, was working with a film crew on Monday, gathering material for a historical record intended for the Library of Congress.

“You’re bringing to a close 135 years of sardine packaging on the coast,” he said over the whoosh of water that cleansed the frozen herring before machines sliced off their heads and tails. “This really built up a lot of the towns here.”

He said several factors played into the closing, beyond limits on the haul. Catching techniques are changing, he said, and the new methods can reduce the quality of herring needed for canning. There is also competition from lobstermen, who are willing to pay for the lower quality herring because they use it for bait.

Sardine workers in Maine saw their heyday during World War II, when large orders for American troops kept their canneries clattering.

“After the war, we saw a rise in tuna canning,” Mr. Fuller said. “People could do more with tuna. There are a limited amount of things you can do with sardines.”

Workers here do not express much interest in eating the catch. Ernie Beach, 55, who operates one of the plant’s large pressure-cooker machines, which sterilize the sardines, said that few workers took advantage of company policy allowing them two free cans a day; he takes one home for his cat.

But like the others, Mr. Beach is proud of his work. “I’m not just the operator, I’m the maintenance man, the mechanic, I make all the adjustments, the calibrations,” he said. “I’m saving lives here.”

When their break was over, the women pulled on new rubber gloves, adjusted their hair nets and returned to the assembly line. They all worked fast, as the job demands, but Mr. Colson, the manager, said with some amazement, as he looked over the daily report, that two of the women, Lulu Orozco and Alma Rodriguez had packed 5,228 cans in 195 minutes, a dizzying rate. It was an extraordinary display of dexterity and focus, if not a little sardine showmanship at the end of the line.

Comment: I'm not a fan of sardines, although I do occasionally fly!, but this article was interesting