Saying Goodbye To The Last Cannery

Tomorrow is the last day for the people who work at the Stinson Seafood Plant in Maine. The last sardine cannery in the country is being shut down for good by their owners. No more will people see the venerable Beach Cliff's sardine can in their grocers aisles and, if they do, the sardines will be sourced from other countries. A sad day indeed. Myself, I like to indulge in a nice sardine snack, now and again. I have fond memories of sharing them with my grandfather. A tin of sardines and a handful of saltines was all we needed to make an impromptu lunch. These days I tend to gravitate more towards smoked herring, than sardines and I guess that's one of the problems. Americans appetites have changed over the decades. We've moved away from the sardine and moved towards tuna and, perhaps, herring and other fish and abandoned that old staple, the sardine.

I sure will miss those Beach Cliff sardines and will likely go out tomorrow and buy a small stock of them to tide me over till I find a suitable replacement. It won't be Chinese sardines, that's for sure. Hopefully, Canada and Morocco will pick up the slack. In the meantime, I'll keep all those folks in Maine in my thoughts as they see their livelihood and local industry go to the grave.