New England

The US Atlantic coast from Maine to Connecticut, historically the heart of American commercial fishing and home to a canning industry that predates the Civil War. The last sardine cannery in Maine closed in 2010 after 135 years of continuous operation, ending a tradition that once employed thousands across Downeast fishing communities. The New Bedford cannery opened by Island Creek Oysters in 2024 brought craft conservas back to New England, continuing a tradition of preservation alongside a new wave of artisan ambition. New England is known for clams, oysters, mussels, and surf clams from aquaculture farms across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Maine, and for wild-caught lobster, most of it landed in Maine by trap. Bar Harbor Foods maintains the region's longest continuous canning heritage.