Saint-Tropez, a small fishing port?

To see the yachts that park in the most famous of the ports of the Côte d'Azur, one can only doubt the durability of this craft activity that fed the village for two millennia.

Yet, past these behemoths, at the end of the old port, still sway a few sharp. Among these, the "Marie-Rémi". It is the boat of Michel Volland and his son Remi, who are among the last figures of the local fishing. Michel has been sailing the waters of the Gulf for thirty-eight years, Rémi joined him not long ago. Men at sea, women on land. Every morning, it is at the fish market, in the small passage connecting the port to the place with Herbs, that one finds Ariel. The wife of Michel boasts the merits of his saint-pierre, his scorpion fish, his mullet.

click on the picture for the octopus salad recipe

We also find on its stone stall lobster and langoustines, octopus, cuttlefish, pagres, burbot, sea bream, rock fish for the bouillabaisse: 30 euros per kilo of noble fish, 25 euros the mostelle and boiling, 16 euros soup. .. Today, the harvest is good. "But our boss is the weather," says Ariel Volland to explain its absence on days of high seas.

At 64, this old sea bass proudly displays fifty years of service. A highly respected veteran, because he is also the "prud'homme".

At his side is Guy d'Arco. At 64, this old sea bass proudly displays fifty years of service. A highly respected veteran, because he is also the "prud'homme", in other words, the elected leader of the Saint-Tropez fishery prud'homie, a linear of 100 kilometers of coast, between Cavalaire and Sainte-Maxime: five fishing ports (Cavalaire, Saint-Tropez, the Marines of Cogolin, Sainte-Maxime, Les Issambres) with about thirty sailors, including a dozen in Saint-Tropez. This professional organization, founded in the eighteenth century, upholds the rules of the sea, defends the interests of its members and also maintains the tradition. Thus, every year, on June 29, villagers and fishermen celebrate their patron, St. Peter, protector of those who go to sea, with a torchlight procession followed by a feast and the blaze of a boat. We are far from jet-set parties.

"A beautiful job"

Obviously, the job is lost. "We were still sixty thirty years ago and more than a dozen today," laments Guy d'Arco. Young people are still launching, but the fishing school of Hyères trains them in three months, when one previously learned the trade in three years. And many end up giving up: "With the European standards, the charges, the training, the night work, it is more and more difficult, admits the prud'homme, who also points the expenses of installation. It takes around 150 000 euros for a boat, and between 15 000 and 20 000 euros of equipment to renew every year. But Guy is not ready to leave his "Louis-Sebastien", inspired by the names of his grandfather and his son. "Fishing is a good job," he concludes before leaving us to embark on his point.

Fish market, place aux Herbes. Every morning.

click the picture to go to the fish soup recipe