What are the key takeaways from this Odd Lots episode?

Key insights include: **Anchovy curing timeline:** Cantabrian anchovies from Santonia, Spain require 12–36 months of rock salt curing before processing. Longer curing produces higher quality but raises costs significantly. Unlike other tinned fish with 5–7 year shelf lives, salt-cured anchovies last only about one year and cannot withstand heat exposure without disintegrating — a critical logistics constraint for retailers and distributors.; **Moroccan sardine supply chain concentration:** Roughly 90% of raw sardine material used by Spanish canneries originated from Morocco before the export ban. Morocco banned frozen sardine exports — not canned exports — to protect its own canning industry. Brands sourcing exclusively from MSC-certified European fisheries like the Cornish or Iberian sardine fisheries avoided direct raw material disruption from this ban.; **Sardine shortage cause:** The most likely driver of declining Moroccan sardine catches — down 46% in 2023 — is climate-driven migration rather than overfishing. Warming Mid-Atlantic waters push temperature-sensitive forage fish to deeper or more distant locations. Fisheries regulators assess the Moroccan fishery as well-managed, suggesting a temporary climate disruption rather than a structural collapse requiring years of recovery.

What did Becca Milstein discuss on Odd Lots?

Becca Millstein, founder and CEO of FishWife, explains how premium tinned fish reaches consumers — covering the anchovy curing process in Santonia, Spain, the Moroccan sardine export ban affecting 90% of Spanish canneries' raw material supply, and how FishWife scaled from micro-canneries to 100-million-can capacity partners. Key topics include: **Anchovy curing timeline:** Cantabrian anchovies from Santonia, Spain require 12–36 months of rock salt curing before processing. Longer curing produces higher quality but raises costs significantly. Unlike other tinned fish with 5–7 year shelf lives, salt-cured anchovies last only about one year and cannot withstand heat exposure without disintegrating — a critical logistics constraint for retailers and distributors.; **Moroccan sardine supply chain concentration:** Roughly 90% of raw sardine material used by Spanish canneries originated from Morocco before the export ban. Morocco banned frozen sardine exports — not canned exports — to protect its own canning industry. Brands sourcing exclusively from MSC-certified European fisheries like the Cornish or Iberian sardine fisheries avoided direct raw material disruption from this ban..

How long is this episode of Odd Lots?

This episode is 42 minutes long. SignalCast provides an AI-generated summary so you can get the key insights in about 3 minutes.

Odd Lots

How a Sardine Gets From the Ocean to a Can

August 7, 2026

42 min episode · 2 min read

Becca Milstein

Episode

42 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Productivity, Health & Wellness, Relationships

AI-Generated Summary

Published Aug 7, 2026

Key Takeaways

✓Anchovy curing timeline: Cantabrian anchovies from Santonia, Spain require 12–36 months of rock salt curing before processing. Longer curing produces higher quality but raises costs significantly. Unlike other tinned fish with 5–7 year shelf lives, salt-cured anchovies last only about one year and cannot withstand heat exposure without disintegrating — a critical logistics constraint for retailers and distributors.
✓Moroccan sardine supply chain concentration: Roughly 90% of raw sardine material used by Spanish canneries originated from Morocco before the export ban. Morocco banned frozen sardine exports — not canned exports — to protect its own canning industry. Brands sourcing exclusively from MSC-certified European fisheries like the Cornish or Iberian sardine fisheries avoided direct raw material disruption from this ban.
✓Sardine shortage cause: The most likely driver of declining Moroccan sardine catches — down 46% in 2023 — is climate-driven migration rather than overfishing. Warming Mid-Atlantic waters push temperature-sensitive forage fish to deeper or more distant locations. Fisheries regulators assess the Moroccan fishery as well-managed, suggesting a temporary climate disruption rather than a structural collapse requiring years of recovery.
✓Premium tinned fish market entry: FishWife launched in 2021 with no minimum order quantities by partnering with micro-canneries in Oregon and Washington state before adding a Spanish cannery with a roughly 20,000-unit MOQ. European canneries, operating at one to two shifts daily rather than full capacity, welcomed U.S. brand partnerships because entering the American market independently is prohibitively difficult for small family-owned operations.
✓Supply chain lead times vs. demand spikes: FishWife plans inventory 12 months out, then six months, then three months before placing purchase orders — a timeline incompatible with sudden demand surges. When sardine sales jumped four to five times normal velocity after the Moroccan ban, the company air-freighted product to retailers at significantly compressed gross margins to capture new customers and fill empty shelf space quickly.

What It Covers

Becca Millstein, founder and CEO of FishWife, explains how premium tinned fish reaches consumers — covering the anchovy curing process in Santonia, Spain, the Moroccan sardine export ban affecting 90% of Spanish canneries' raw material supply, and how FishWife scaled from micro-canneries to 100-million-can capacity partners.

Key Questions Answered

•Anchovy curing timeline: Cantabrian anchovies from Santonia, Spain require 12–36 months of rock salt curing before processing. Longer curing produces higher quality but raises costs significantly. Unlike other tinned fish with 5–7 year shelf lives, salt-cured anchovies last only about one year and cannot withstand heat exposure without disintegrating — a critical logistics constraint for retailers and distributors.
•Moroccan sardine supply chain concentration: Roughly 90% of raw sardine material used by Spanish canneries originated from Morocco before the export ban. Morocco banned frozen sardine exports — not canned exports — to protect its own canning industry. Brands sourcing exclusively from MSC-certified European fisheries like the Cornish or Iberian sardine fisheries avoided direct raw material disruption from this ban.
•Sardine shortage cause: The most likely driver of declining Moroccan sardine catches — down 46% in 2023 — is climate-driven migration rather than overfishing. Warming Mid-Atlantic waters push temperature-sensitive forage fish to deeper or more distant locations. Fisheries regulators assess the Moroccan fishery as well-managed, suggesting a temporary climate disruption rather than a structural collapse requiring years of recovery.
•Premium tinned fish market entry: FishWife launched in 2021 with no minimum order quantities by partnering with micro-canneries in Oregon and Washington state before adding a Spanish cannery with a roughly 20,000-unit MOQ. European canneries, operating at one to two shifts daily rather than full capacity, welcomed U.S. brand partnerships because entering the American market independently is prohibitively difficult for small family-owned operations.
•Supply chain lead times vs. demand spikes: FishWife plans inventory 12 months out, then six months, then three months before placing purchase orders — a timeline incompatible with sudden demand surges. When sardine sales jumped four to five times normal velocity after the Moroccan ban, the company air-freighted product to retailers at significantly compressed gross margins to capture new customers and fill empty shelf space quickly.

Notable Moment

When sardine demand suddenly multiplied four to five times, Millstein faced a direct tradeoff between protecting profit margins and capturing shelf space at major retailers. She chose to absorb the cost of expensive air freight repeatedly — a deliberate short-term margin sacrifice to introduce new customers to the brand.

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Episode Transcript

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