Meet the expert women who fillet and process our sardines
We talk a lot about how Sea Sisters sardines are caught and the fact that, as Cornish sardines they have Protected Geographical Status, meaning they’re caught by ring-net within six miles of the Cornish coast. We also talk a lot about the incredible flavours and ingredients we use when we preserve them here in our cannery.
Something we don’t talk about enough is what happens to them in between, after they’ve been caught and before they come to the cannery as juicy little fillets: a nothing-short-of-magical process that is handled entirely by two highly-skilled women, Laura and Wioletta, who are based at Interfish in Plymouth.
Interfish has been based in Plymouth since 1977, and it’s the processing hub for most of the fish that is caught every day off the south west coast. Hake, turbot, plaice, brill and cuttlefish all come through the huge waterfront operation every day on their way to fishmongers and supermarkets around the country. It’s also where around nine thousand tonnes of Cornish sardines get processed every year, and where we at Sea Sisters buy all of the sardine fillets that make our British Conservas.
On a recent visit to the Interfish hub, we met Laura and Wioletta to find out about what they do and understand more about the journey every sardine makes to our cans. We were blown away by the meticulous process every single sardine goes through before it gets packed off to us. Wioletta, who is originally from Poland, deftly takes the flesh off the bones and de-heads sardines at such a rapid pace, processing around 1300 sardines a day, all by hand (she does anchovies and herrings too!) It is highly-skilled knife work that requires great care in order to preserve the integrity of the precious flesh on such small fish, and ensure the fillets that come to producers like us are of a high standard. Laura, who trained as a marine biologist, oversees the entire processing operation and monitors every catch for quality, appearance and taste, ensuring our silver-skinned sardines arrive looking fantastic enough to eat every time.
While the fishers who catch the fish will always be fundamentally important to our mission here at Sea Sisters, we also want to celebrate the people behind the scenes, especially women like Wioletta and Laura, without whom we wouldn’t be able to create our much-loved Conservas. That’s why we asked one of our favourite artists, Nicole Revy, to create a limited edition block print to celebrate the work of women in the fish-canning industry. The image (pictured) shows members of our cannery team working alongside Laura and Wioletta as they fillet and pack sardines in our cans. We love it, and we hope you do too! We’ll be releasing the image as a print and can wrapper later in 2026; stand by for details.
Happy International Women’s Day!