© Xavier DUBOIS. Panorama sur les bateaux du port de pêche de Lorient.

The fishing port

Lorient, first fish auction in France

Lorient is France’s first fish auction and Brittany’s leading fishing port in terms of tonnage and value (25,000 tonnes of products sold at auction)! It is also the leading port for live langoustine catches.

Some history

The fishing port of Keroman was created in the 18th century in the town centre of Lorient, where the current marina is located. It was moved in the 1910s to the district of Lorient-Keroman, on the Pointe de la Perrière. It is still there to this day, and has been considerably modernized over the decades.

The Fishing Port Today

Like all Breton ports, the fishing port belongs to the Region of Brittany. It is managed by the operator Lorient-Keroman. This is the leading fishing port in Brittany in tonnage and value, and the leading French port for langoustine. 110 vessels are registered here (trawlers, crab boats, gillnetters, longliners, etc.).

Considerable modernisation work has been carried out over the last ten years (auctions, boat terminal, etc.).

The fishing port in figures

25 000 tonnes of products sold at auction
80 million euros in sales
80 000 tonnes of seafood products processed
300 vessels landing every year
240 registered buyers
3000 jobs (direct and indirect)
80 000 tonnes of seafood products processed per year
1st port for langoustine catches
Most sold species: common ling, saithe, sardine, monkfish, hake, hairtail, blue ling, tuna, langoustine, haddock.

(Source: Dossier de Presse Lorient Agglomération, 2019)

Visit the fishing port with Maison de la Mer

L’Espace des sciences/ Maison de la Mer offer tours of the fishing port (“La marée du jour” visit) on some days during school holidays, at 5am and 9:45 am.

With family, alone or accompanied, you can follow the guide and better understand how the resource is managed, fishing techniques used and the auction system. If you take the tour at 5am, you will be able to soak up the atmosphere of the early morning fish auction. Sales at the auction are now computerized.

Booking is obligatory with Lorient Bretagne Sud Tourisme on +33(0)2 97 847 800.

Duration: 2 hours, visit in French, distance: 1 km.

Tours: between 7 and 20 people, departure subject to sufficient participants.

Meet: At the main entrance to the fishing port (boulevard Louis Nail, opposite the hotel restaurant Les Gens de Mer) with your ticket.

Looking for fresh fish

Moulin Marée

Moulin Marée is a fishmonger’s shop on the Lorient fishing port open to private individuals. You can buy fresh produce from the fishing boats from Lorient and elsewhere. Like all fish merchants in Lorient fishing port, Moulin Marée also buys seafood from other auctions in western France.

Merville Covered Market

Don’t miss the Halles de Merville in Lorient town centre, where the fishmongers’ stalls are magnificent! There are many other fish shops in Lorient Bretagne Sud also supplied by Lorient fish merchants.

A neighbourhood that lives by day and by night

The fishing port district was a very lively place in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, especially when the fishermen returned at the end of the day and headed to the bars. Until the late 1990s, it became deserted.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the neighbourhood around the fishing port has come back to life. Many brownfields sites have been taken over by talented graffiti artists and they are really worth a closer look! Artists’ galleries and workshops have sprung up in the neighbourhood (such as Lieu Noir-Lieu Jaune, which also offers musical events).

The avenue de La Perrière is a great place for lunch during the week (with basic workers’ food, good value for money, or at one of the original and slightly offbeat restaurants that have opened in recent years, such as Le Poulpe, La Cambuse, Dynamo Cantine Vélo…). A few restaurants are open in the evening, but they are less numerous (Le Crabe-Marteau, le Neptune).

The neighbourhood remains lively even so during the evening, as the Galion attracts quite a few people! This café-concert is open during the week and on weekends and offers plenty of rock concerts: garage rock, punk rock, Australian rock, etc.

“Port En Fête” in June!

Every year for a whole weekend in June, the Fishing Port puts on its glad rags, in partnership with the other ports in Lorient (marina, etc.). This is the time to visit fishing boats and chat with the fishermen! On the Saturday evening, a festive concert with a well-known headline act (Les Innocents in 2019) takes place outdoors, either on the site of the fishing port or at Lorient La Base (on the esplanade of the Eric Tabarly Sailing museum). And it’s free of charge!

Article L’Inattendu 2014 Charlotte Viart (Lorient Fishing Port at night). Updated by Céline Madelaine in March 2019.