FISHING
The local economy rests on two main activities : tourism and fishing. We just talked about tourism, and I hope you could see how rich and diverse the Bigouden country is. The fishing activities must be explained too. I won't tell you much about agriculture, because it lost its dominating position during the 20th century, and a lot of farming concerns were converted to "green tourism" : these former farm buildings are now beautiful, renovated houses, which tourists can rent.
The harbors of the southern Bigouden coast, which were called "the four Bigouden musketeers" (Saint-Guénolé, Le Guilvinec, Lesconil and Loctudy), follow one another on a 20 kilometer long area (12 miles) and form the first French fishing region : 35,000 tonnes (35,700 tons) of fishes are yearly caught by 450 metric boats (450 boats 
). This activity remains traditional : 90% of the boats' owners are their captains too and put out to sea with their crews. This group's leader is Le Guilvinec, from both economic and administrative points of views : this is the fourth French harbor, and since 1919 the head of the Bigouden maritime district, which explains the letters GV at the beginning of the boats' registration numbers.
Most of the Bigouden fishermen use trawlers : a trawl net is a funnel-like fishing net, which is pulled by the boat (the trawler). The boats may fish during one to two weeks at the open sea (in the northern Atlantic Ocean) or stay close to the coast and come back every evening. The same type of boats is generally used for both activities, these are 15- to 20-meter long (50 to 65 feet) trawlers. Many trawler generations may be seen together in the harbors : the oldest ones use side-trawling, i.e. the trawl net is put in the sea and taken back on one side of the boat by means of two masts. There is a more modern technique though, which is rear-trawling : the boats are equipped with gantries under which the nets are directly unrolled and wound. You can see this on the photo above : passing by the "draughtboard" of Loctudy's harbor, an example of each technique, rear gantry on the left, side masts on the right.
These wooden, 15-meter long (50 feet) trawlers are called malamoks, and are generally used for coastal fishing, even if the recent ones have bunks and a wardroom, where the sailors can rest and eat. All of them are now equipped with sophisticated electronic devices such as radio, radars (to locate fish shoals), satellite links with weather forecasts services, GPS, etc… The boats are spiked with antennas and screens are more and more numerous in the cabins.
| About 15 years ago, a new type of trawler has appeared, bigger, more modern, made of wood and steel. For example this one, the Jacana, entering the harbor of Lesconil. |  |
 | These boats are more and more modern and sophisticated and need a complete maintenance infrastructure : one lost fishing week because of a damage on the boat is a financial catastrophe for the owner, so he must be able to get his ship repaired fast. The harbor of Le Guilvinec has a shipyard and it gathers all the necessary skills : mechanics, electricity, electronics, painting… The blue shape of the slipway's gantry (on the left), made for big repairs on the trawlers, became the symbol of this activity. |
| Trawlers are not the only Bigouden fishing boats however. One can see more and more small ships, which go fishing during half a day, and lay fixed nets and pots (i.e. traps for shellfish - you can see such pots on this picture, on the left side), which are located by personalized buoys or pennants. In the morning for example, the fisherman puts out to sea in order to collect the pots and the nets which were laid the previous evening, and to lay new ones for this evening. These small boats are called dinghies or, in a more familiar way, touc-touc, because of the characteristic noise of their diesel engines. |  |
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The trading activity of a harbor concentrates in its fish auction room, which is a kind of stock exchange for fishing products. The first Bigouden fish auction room was built in Le Guilvinec in 1959 (before this, the boats had to go to Concarneau, 30 km away (18 miles), to sell their products); since then, all the harbors of the maritime district have been equipped with such an essential economic element.
| Fish is sold by auction, and all the day's goods are put before the sale director (here on the left), who's a sworn agent of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the Bigouden harbors are under the C.C.I. of Quimper's authority). The goods are divided into shares and the buyers (who are wholesale fish merchants) stand among the crates during the sale. The sale director is an intermediary : he notes the bids and auctions every share off to the highest bidder. |  |
| A sale in a fish auction room is a very special thing… if you're not a specialist, you won't understand anything. The sale director recites the auctions at high speed, his voice is distorted by the loudspeakers, and the buyers indicate their bids with small, almost imperceptible gestures such as nods, winks… |  |
The system in Saint-Guénolé is different because the fish auction system is managed by computer (it was one of the first in France, in July 1987). The sale system works the opposite way. Before the sale, the buyers have the opportunity to spot the shares they intend to buy. Then they settle in this kind of amphitheater, in which they keep a constant contact with their wholesale firm, thanks to the telephone : they can ask for the rates on the other markets of the region, and for what the firm actually needs. For each share, the sale director sets a high start price on the screen (here on the right), and lowers it progressively. There is a button at each buyer place for purchase orders : the first buyer who presses it buys the share, whose delivery and billing are automatically managed by computer. And it goes on with the next share.
So this is a reverse auction system, and the buyer's job consists in waiting for the price to fall, but not too long, because one of his colleagues can buy the share before him. Moreover the sales director can set a minimum price.
This fish auction system allows the fishermen to sell their products better, because each of them gets in touch with all the buyers and can reach a higher price. There are three possible outlets of the Bigouden fishing activity :
the local consumption, mostly during the summer, when tourists go on a fresh fish cure - they eat products fished the same day or the day before, and bought in local fish-shops or hypermarkets, or even directly to the boats, in the harbors before the auction sale;the national or international wholesalers, who send trucks full of fresh fish every evening to Rennes, Nantes (the two largest Breton cities), Rungis (near Paris, this is the biggest wholesalers market in France), and to Spain, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland and Italy;the local canning factories in Le Guilvinec and Penmarc'h, which produce tuna, sardines, mackerel, squid… for the major French brands.
Well, all this is the Bigouden country, it's a fascinating and very pleasant region, I hope I could convince you! As I told you at the beginning of these Breton pages, I'm a Bigouden (you guessed it), and moreover Bigouden from Lesconil. So I'd like to end this presentation with a page fully dedicated to my village… Leskon on the Web, who would believe it!?
