Sustainable Cornish Sardines
- Our Sustainable Fish Range
- The biology of Cornish sardines
- Historical background
- Sustainability
- Our fish
- The range
Cornish Sardines were better known previously perhaps as pilchards.
The Biology
They are part of the main family of pelagic fish known as clupidae and are the sub species known scientifically as sardina pilchardus. Pelagic fish are fish that spend most of their life swimming in the water as opposed to resting on the bottom. The fish Sardina pilchardus can be found from the Mediterranean up to the coast of Cornwall. The smaller of the species are often known as sardines and in Cornwall the more mature fish, which are fatter and longer, are between 10 and 14 pieces per kilo. The Cornish season lasts from late June until the following February.
Historical background
Since 1555, when exports were first recorded, Cornish pilchards have been salted whole in bulk, then pressed and packed into wooden barrels and boxes and sold throughout Europe. Before electricity was discovered salting was the main method of fish preservation and the Catholic countries of Europe provided a good market for fish products.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there were dozens of plants salting pilchards in Cornwall supplying the booming Italian, French and Spanish markets where they were sold from travelling carts in the remote rural regions. In Italy, which remains the primary market for salt pilchards today, they were used in rustic dishes as the most economical salted fish to give flavour to the staple diet of pasta or polenta. By the 1960’s, with alternatives of fresh and frozen fish, only one plant continued to pack salt pilchards in Cornwall.
By 1995, though the stocks were a healthy 600,000 tonnes, lack of demand had reduced the landings from Cornish boats to less than 7 tonnes per year. The traditional name for the fish, pilchards, summed up images of tins and tomato sauce and in 1997, after some interesting market research by “The Pilchard Works”, the fish was re-branded as “Cornish Sardines”. New recipes were developed, some boats were given new nets and a guaranteed minimum price for their catches and the Cornish Sardines were launched later that year.
Sustainability of Cornish Sardines
According to the Marine Conservation Society's Fish to Eat Guide, if you are wanting to source sustainable sardines, you should "Choose Cornish sardines from small-scale fisheries caught in the South West of England using traditional drift or ring nets.", which is precisely what Graig Farm's sardines are.
Our Fish
The fish supplied by Graig Farm are from one small fishing company in Cornwall.
More often than not these are landed by their own boat, The Resolute (see left), which has been certified with the Responsible Fishing Scheme. It is a ring-net boat which is a very sustainable method of catching, and lands only what can be sold - everything else is released alive.
 | Whole fish - gutted Around 100g each 4 per pack |
 | Butterfly Fillets around 50 g each 4 per pack |
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