The Island's modern fishing industry is founded on the tin can. Without the tin can and commercial-scale canning technology, lobster would never have found its way from Island waters - where it was despised - to markets in Great Britain and the United States, where it was considered a delicacy. Before canning, the only way to get a lobster to market was as a live catch. Lobster defied pickling or drying - the only available methods of food preservation. Pioneered in Europe, efficient and safe canning technology developed in the United States and by the 1850s was spreading north into the Maritimes. The first known cannery on Prince Edward Island opened around 1858. In 1871 there were only two canneries on the whole Island. They packed mainly salmon and other finned fish and were a very minor aspect of the provincial economy. But ten years later, thanks to the lobster fishery, the number of canneries had exploded to over 100. In 1881 the lobster fishery accounted for over 25% of the province's income. Although their impact declined over the following years, the canneries had become an important part of the Island economy. Long tables are provided, on which they are placed when taken out of the boiler, and after the 'cracker' has done his work, the meat of the tails and claws is picked out by girls and placed in cans of different sizes; but usually they hold about one pound. The next operation is to put the top piece on the can and solder it, leaving an air hole in the centre. Then the cans are taken into the next apartment and placed on a large perforated tray, hung on bales which suspend it over another boiler. Here the cans are bathed, that is boiled until almost all air is excluded. Then they are taken out and hermetically sealed, after which they are again boiled.