Sardine fishing started in 1750 in Cornwall (United Kingdom), founding the centuries-old product that is known today as Cornish Sardines.
Half a century later, in 1795, french Nicolas Appert started experiments inquiring ways to preserve foodstuffs. The first attempt consisted in placing food in glass jars that were later placed in boiling water; this was to become the ancestors of modern times steel & aluminum cans.
At the beginning of Napoleonic Wars in 19th century, the French governemnt offered a significant prize to anyone who could succeed in finding a technique to preserve large amounts of food as supplies for the armies. Nicolas Apprt submitted his proposal and won the prize in 1802. However, Appert's technique proved its limitations due to transportation challenges as glass jars were very heavy.
With the different advances of science later in the century, Louis Pasteur brought his contribution to the invention by discovery the role of microbes in the food spoiling process. Shorlty after, taking benefit of Pasteur's resarch findings, british Peter Durand patented a new method relying on tin cans, paving the path for what was to become todays fish cans.