THE DISAPPEARING SARDINE

Grey River Argus, 6 April 1948, Page 3

THE DISAPPEARING SARDINE

The mysterious disappearance* of the sardine threatens' to bring further food shoitages in a hungry world. Millions have vanished from Pacific water without a trace. Californian fishermen gloomily declare that the season will be the worst for 15 years. In some waters the catch is ony 5 per cent, of normal years. Many fishermen are abandoning the quest for the elusive sardine after three poor years. Processing plant workers are hard (hit one new San Francisco cannery has not opened its doors since it was completed a year ago. Bikini Bomb blamed Scientists are unable to offer a convincing explanation for the disappearance of the "poor man's meat,’ but fishermen tend to blame it on the Bikini bomb. This explanation is discounted, as the sardines started to disappear long before Bikini. Experts say the acean is becoming too salty, or less salty, too cold, or too warm. Others prosaically blame human greed, and say so many sanidines are caught that there are not 'sufficient left to breed. Whatever thd cause the humble sardine is fast becoming a luxury. Its pi'e,-wai’ price has already trebl_ed. From around £1 a case of 48 15oz. cans, the price has nsen to between 3 and £4 wholesale. A small tin costs 2s in American stores. Two expeditions will soon investigate whether sardines have been nudged by shifting currents to other parts of the pacific.