Sète remains the first fishing port in the French Mediterranean. If the profession suffers and the number of boats decreases, fishing remains a tradition powerfully rooted in the unique island. Dozens of fishermen continue to live on it, against all odds.
Sète has his eyes riveted towards the Mediterranean. Here, fishing has been an institution for generations. Long a pillar of the local economy, it has always been practiced on a human scale.
Pierre Palumbo is one of these small trades, versatile fishermen who go to sea by day and who favor direct sales places in the port where they live.
« Whether it’s trawling or small trade, it’s artisanal fishing and family work. When we see that the trawl comes out with three people on board, we cannot say that it is a large company or a factory, » explains Pierre Palumbo.
As in many fishing families in Sète, Pierre transmitted the love of the sea to his son.
We were born in it, we have salt water flowing in the veins. As a child, when he told me about the fishing days, I drank his words.Quentin Palumbo, fisherman and son of a fisherman in Sète.
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Sète (Hérault) – Pierre Palumbo versatile artisanal fisherman – March 2026. • © FTV
A resource that is rare
However, as he grew up, the child lost his amazed look at the profession: « When I was old enough to stand on board the boat, for me it was the holidays, I enjoyed myself. Now, it’s less the holidays, » says Quentin soberly.
Like the Palumbo, in Sète, there are still a few dozen practicing this artisanal fishing. Their fish is sold directly at the local auction, which practices a system of degressive auctions.
But sea bream, wolves or hake are parading less and less in this very active auction. Last year, 1,500 tons of fish were sold at auction. We are far from the approximately 7,000 tons that were scome 20 years ago.
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Sète (Hérault) – the auction sale – March 2026. • © FTV
At the halls of Sète, Cyrielle De Ranteau can testify to this. This « historic » fishmonger experienced a time when it only sold local products.
Before, we really had three quarters that came from the Mediterranean, the rest was to complete the varieties. Now, we have more things that come from the Atlantic, we have to meet the demand of customers and we go get the fish where we find it.Cyrielle De Ranteau, fishmonger in the Halles de Sète.
Touched but not sunt
After years of intensive fishing, the resource has been rarefied in the Mediterranean and the rules of the game have hardened.
The « West Med » management plan, adopted in 2019 by the European Commission for better management of fisheries resources in the Mediterranean, was badly felt in Sète: half of the trawler fleet was destroyed. Today, there are only 11 Seto trawlers left. They were 40 in 2006.
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Sète (Hérault) – one of the 11 trawlers still in operation, they were 40 20 years ago – March 2026. • © FTV
Touched but not sunt for Vincent Scotto. The president of the SATHOAN Fishermen’s Cooperative remains resolutely optimistic, convinced that a future is possible.
« In Sète, fishing, it must not be lost! The model will change completely with the decarbonization of ships, we will increase the mesh, close areas to protect the resource. Tomorrow, there will also be a division of the territory with the wind turbines, but we will be able, around all this, to save fishing, » he explains.
Even if the sky is darkening with the new oil crisis that is looming, local fishermen say they are ready to brave this umpteenth storm to continue writing the history that intimately links them to the singular island.
source : franceinfo
