Sardines

I used to have sardines every once in a while when I was a kid. I didn’t have them again until recently. I bought a can at the local grocery, and was shocked at how tiny they were compared to the ones I remembered. They were only about 2 inches long, and about a quarter inch wide--compared to 8 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide back then.

My family was in the fishing business for several generations, including starting the first sportfishing business in San Diego in the early 1900s. Over a period of years, the size, number and extent of large game fish, such as marlin, albacore tuna, etc, dropped off dramatically. My grandfather swore that the cause was the canning industry’s overfishing of sardines, which were a primary food source for the game fish. He fought them for many years. Unfortunately, even though the canning industry eventually collapsed in the 1950s (their behavior caused their demise), the stocks of both sardines and game fish have never returned to what they once were.