SARDINES FOR TROOPS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23745, 17 September 1942, Page 3

SARDINES FOR TROOPS

CANNING FACTORY AT PICTON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND SUPPLIED Thousands of cases of Picton sardines have been shipped overseas for military consumption since the establishment of a canning factory on the shores of the Marlborough Sounds. This factory is playing an important part in New Zealand’s war effort, for the sardines, which are cleaned, packed, sterilised, and cooked at the rate of about 3000 cans a day, go to Australia, islands in the Pacific, and camps and hospitals throughout the Dominion. Reserve stocks of the canned sardines are being built up jn New Zealand, and in addition 200 10-gallon kegs of anchovies are sent to Australia every month. A process of extracting the oil from the waste parts of the fish —it has a high vitamin content—is being investigated, but at present the waste is being used as manure by Picton gardeners. If 30 tons of tomatoes can be provided locally the factory will also produce herrings in tomato sauce. The canning factory is being operated under licence from the Government by an Auckland firm which previously: operated in the Hauraki Gulf. It transferred its operations to the Marlborough Sounds because of war conditions and at the direction of the Food Controller (Mr J. E. Thomas). Much of the equipment in the factory has been made in Picton, and there is a staff of 22 girls and six men recruited from the district. The girls, most of whom are Maoris, put the sardines through the cannery at the rate of 30 a minute for each girl. The sardines are caught on moonless nights in a fine-meshed seine net which is 1000 feet long and 120 feet between float and sinker. The phosphorescence in the Marlborough Sounds is so exceptional that the fishermen do not need to use the 10,000 candle power lamp in the centre of the net, which was employed in the Hauraki Gulf. When the purse of the net is closed and the catch brought to the surface the sardines are shovelled into boxes, where they die straight away, and can be packed easily into straight cans. About two and a half tons of sardines are caught each day—there are approximately 20,000 fish to the ton—and the staff deals with two tons daily. The fish arc scaled by being placed against a revolving wheel with an abrasive surface. Then they are topped, tailed, and cleaned, and placed in a 16oz can. Each can is loosely capped and moves into a rotary exhaust which removes the air completely. Next the cans go to the steam steriliser where the sardines are cooked. Anchovies are produced by a process which involves about six months of brining. The cured fish become anchovies and can be used for flavouring or in the manufacture of anchovy sauce. The size and continuity of the harvest of sardines is. still unknown, but indications are that 1000 tons of canned fish anntfally will not materially affect the supplies in the Marlborough Sounds' as the schools are renewed from spawning grounds not in the fishing area. The schools of sardines run past Cloudy Bay, and they have been netted as far south as Sumner.