There Is A Tin Of Pilchards On My Head

There Is A Tin Of Pilchards On My Head

There Is A Tin Of Pilchards On My Head

There Is A Tin Of Pilchards On My Head

In the United States, the sardine canning industry peaked in the 1950s. Since then, the industry has been on the decline. The canneries in Monterey Bay, in what was known as Cannery Row, failed in the mid-1950s. The last large sardine cannery in the United States, the Stinson Seafood plant in Prospect Harbor, Maine, closed its doors on 15 April 2010 after 135 years in operation.^[57]

Pilchard fishing and processing became a thriving industry in Cornwall (UK) from around 1750 to around 1880, after which it went into decline. As of 2007, however, stocks are improving.^[58] Since 1997, sardines from Cornwall have been sold as "Cornish sardines", and since March 2010, under EU law, Cornish sardines have Protected Geographical Status.^[59] The industry has featured in numerous works of art, particularly by Stanhope Forbes and other Newlyn School artists.

The traditional "Toast to Pilchards" refers to the lucrative export of the fish to Catholic Europe;

Here's health to the Pope, may he live to repent

 And add just six months to the term of his Lent

 And tell all his vassals from Rome to the Poles,

 There's nothing like pilchards for saving their souls!