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.

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 with Marks and Spencer’s, some boats were given new nets and a guaranteed minimum price for their catches and the Cornish Sardines were launched in store later that year.

Since then the Cornish landings have risen to around 2000 tonnes due fishermen, processors and multiple retailers working together to re-build the demand.