The Pilchards of Penzance - pilchards or sardines?

The Cornish pilchard fishing industry is an ancient source of income for Cornwall and the South West with Penzance and Newlyn as the main ports. The fish were salted and sold in vast quantities during the 19th Century. With the overfishing of predator fish small pelagic fish populations are returning and a successful marketing campaign to promote Cornish sardines rather than the old-fashioned pilchard has ensured the industry's survival.

The rebranding of pilchards to ‘Cornish sardines' make them popular today, and see them back on the menus of many a celebrity chef's restaurant. First rebranded in 1996 by Nick Howell, the Chairman of the Cornish Sardine Management Association, the name is now under the EU Protected Names Scheme. The UK joined the EU Common Fisheries Policy in 1974 and the industry is managed through a system of quotas set annually.