On the port of Trinité-sur-Mer, at the entrance to the auction, onlookers enter and leave the halls, respecting the famous "social distancing" which is gradually entering into mores. It is 6 p.m. Julien Le Pré will attack the most important moment of his day. At the wheel of his white van, this fishmonger is about to head towards Port Maria, on the Quiberon peninsula, located about ten kilometers away. There, all evening long, about thirty fishing boats will return, the nets overflowing with fish. Bars, cakes, langoustines, pollack, sea bream, langoustines ... "And I, throughout the evening and until about 11 pm, I do the seagull, explains Julien Le Pré with a malicious smile.I buy what I need from fishermen and negotiate their arrivals at the fairest price. ”
Since the start of the health crisis and the period of confinement, Julien Le Pré has seen no difference in the rhythm of his work days. To hear it, it is rather the opposite! "In eight years, I have never worked so well this season ," he says. And the fishermen also work a lot. In Quiberon - apart from a few big ones - all the fishing boats are on the water. ” Fish, he says, sells very well. In full containment, customers are there . The virus has not cut the appetite of the French for fresh fish ... To the delight of Julien, who hopes for a "click."
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"It's not surprising, now they have time to cook, Julien analyzes. And everywhere in the media, we repeat that we must consume healthier, more local… So it doesn't surprise me at all to see so many people at their fishmonger's. ” And in the case of Carnac, Trinité-sur-Mer, and the surrounding area, the somewhat premature arrival of "summer visitors" is not for nothing. "I hate, moreover, the critical discourse vis-à-vis the urban people who came for the start of confinement," he specifies. If businesses are running today, it is clearly thanks to them… ”
In fishmongers and in shops, containment has brought order to the queues!
Julien Le Pré, fishmonger.And above all, since the beginning of containment, the queues of fishmongers - just like those of other businesses for that matter - have been governed militarily. “In the queues, everyday life is rather rushing and poor organization! You never know who arrived before whom, and that sometimes generates tensions, observes Julien. Containment has brought order to all of this! ” In terms of price, Julien notes that only "the first days" of the crisis made prices plunge and that despite a slight yo-yo effect, they are almost normal. It is not the same everywhere: at the Lorient auction in early April, the fishery was cut in half. Julien, for his part, is "lucky" not to work exclusively in b to b, with restaurants that closed during confinement. Its customers are individuals and oyster farmers, for example.
What exactly does this fishmonger need, who negotiates locally and then resells to fish merchants? "I need everything in season," he says simply. Sometimes I send photos to my clients when I'm there, and they respond to me live. ” This 35 year old guy with long blond hair and ocean blue eyes graduated from the Etel Maritime High School, near Lorient. He worked for a few years in "quality inspection" at Rungis, before becoming a fishmonger, at Carnac. Professional experience that ended in bankruptcy. For eight years, he has "rebounded" with this job as a fishmonger. Julien is a lover of the product and of relationships: he likes to sell the best product at the best price. "And that doesn't necessarily mean the lowest price," he adds. Negotiating also means being able to give three or four euros more when the product is magnificent. And sometimes it ends at the bistro! ”
Animals roam the city ... and fish in the harbor
If the fishermen are indeed at sea, there is on the other hand a category of boats which has completely disappeared from the ocean. In Trinité-sur-Mer as elsewhere, pleasure boats, too, remain confined to the port. At the end of this sunny afternoon, the sea is full of oil and the channel is absolutely calm. The same phenomenon is observed in ports as in cities. The animals roam freely. “Fish are everywhere around us, they come into the harbor water where there is no activity. A few days ago, a basking shark was filmed in the harbor of Brest, says Julien. This confinement is a parenthesis for everyone, including the ocean and the fish. ”
To the question of post-containment, Julien hopes that customers will keep the good habits acquired during this period: cooking, and consuming local products. "People may realize that buying shrimp from Vietnam or Ecuador makes absolutely no sense when you're lucky enough to have good fresh produce on site," he says. What I hope is that these good reflexes of confinement will last, and that when life goes back to normal, everyone will keep these consumption habits. ” It is 7 p.m. Julien puts on his navy blue jacket, turns the ignition key on his van, and walks away towards Quiberon. He is not yet sure exactly what his trunk will be filled at the end of the day. Neither with which fisherman, nor at what price, he will negotiate such a fish. One thing is certain, however: the work day will not end at the bistro.
