While the Lorient Keroman fish auction has seen a noticeable drop in landings in recent months, strong prices help offset this.
Difficult weather, the month-long closure of the Bay of Biscay, soaring diesel prices, a flood of technical shutdowns have made the first six months of 2026 difficult for fishing in Lorient.
Volumes were down by approximately 20% as of 31st May. This drop was offset by an average price of €4.74, which served to reduce the decrease in value to just 7.5%, demonstrating that demand for seafood remains strong. It’s a tense time for buyers.
‘It is still very worrying from the point of view of market accessibility, if we want to offer fish at good prices to the greatest number of people,’ said fish auction manager Yonel Madec.
Coastal fishing was most severely affected and is down 26% in volume. Key species for Lorient are hake, down 36% and langoustine, down 9%. There was a 20-tonne shortfall in langoustine landings in May alone, although this was offset by an average auction price of nearly €15/kg.
It is hoped that this positive trend will continue with the Sustainable Fishing label from France Agrimer, awarded this year to eight vessels in the fishery and three auctions – including Lorient – on the initiative of the Brittany Fishermen’s Producers’ Organisation.
A consolation is that octopus appears to be consolidating its presence in southern Brittany. Pre-Covid, only a few dozen tonnes were landed each year, while the volume of catches reached 72 tonnes at the end of May. This is in line with recent records, including the 313 tonnes landed in 2021 and 275 tonnes in 2025. Primarily caught in traps, octopus fetches a relatively high price of around €7/kg, with strong demands from markets in Spain.
Image: Hervé Cohonner/Lorient Agglo
