Sardine shortage?

Was at Checkers over the weekend and they were stocked................something fishy going on?
 
I like the Saldanha smoke flavoured South African Sardines with vegetable oil.
These are great value with 4 or 5 cutlets in a tin.

I'm not a tomato sauce with sardine fan.

If South Africa could produce a plain sardine in olive oil, it'd be in my shopping cart every time I shop.

Portuguese sardines are also good.

Saldanha Pichards.jpg
 
airborne said:
Could a sardine ever be anything other than wild caught?
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Not in South Africa, but possibly overseas somewhere.

Without sounding biased, I avoid Chinese or Indian canned or frozen foods, because a lot of those products are farmed. I don't think sardines can be farmed but you never know with our asian brethren.
 
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BTTB said:
Not in South Africa, but possibly overseas somewhere.

Without sounding biased, I avoid Chinese or Indian canned or frozen foods, because a lot of those products are farmed. I don't think sardines can be farmed but you never know with our asian brethren.
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Ai says no:
Sardines are almost exclusively wild-caught, not farmed, due to their pelagic nature, which causes them to struggle in confined spaces. While experimental captive breeding has been achieved in research settings (such as in Brazil), commercial sardine farming is not currently practiced, making them a sustainable, wild-caught ocean resource
 
airborne said:
Could a sardine ever be anything other than wild caught?
Click to expand...
It's probably just a marketing thing. If you have no idea if most sardines are wild caught or farmed and you see a can that says 'wild caught' and another can that says nothing, you might just reach for the wild caught one.
 
KleinBoontjie said:
Checkers has Maasbankers for like R60 or R70 for a kg bag. Just as nutritious.
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They are very nutritious, but because of their diet, essentially being a “vegetarian” fish, they do not contain nearly the same levels of Omega 3 and Omega 6 as sardines. Their nutrition profile is completely different, as is their taste.

I do often by them for going on the braai when I can’t find nice size Portuguese Sardines for grilling.
 
airborne said:
Ai says no:
Sardines are almost exclusively wild-caught, not farmed, due to their pelagic nature, which causes them to struggle in confined spaces. While experimental captive breeding has been achieved in research settings (such as in Brazil), commercial sardine farming is not currently practiced, making them a sustainable, wild-caught ocean resource
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. As I was thinking too.
(I'll reserve further comment about wild caught sardines until I'm 100% sure)

Some food for thought...

Abalone. They're farming with Abalone in the East now, having copied us I suspect, and I've heard that the local abalone industry took a hit on price as a result due to lack of demand and one plant has closed down already. I'm assuming China or whoever that did import our Abalone in the past may now get from China.
I'm not fully up to speed on the abalone story, but they are definitely farming it in the east.
It may have stopped a bit of the poaching along our shores, but I have my doubts, they'll just accept less money or sell it locally.

Prawns. Everyone loves prawns. Much of that is also farmed and from India.
I only buy Argentinian wild caught prawns. Sometimes not easy to obtain.

Yellowtail for example, Seriola Lalandi which is the popular species we catch along the South African coastline has been substituted at the Supermarket chains with Seriola Quinqueradiata because it's cheaper. Seriola Quinqueradiata is a species that has been farmed in the east and sold here as Yellowtail.
 
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