Boulogne-sur-Mer fish auction:fish merchants, Capécure, species and how to get fish delivered

01

The Boulogne fish auction in figures

Source: FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions in 2024.

Boulogne sells twice as much fish as Le Guilvinec or Lorient, but at a much lower average price (€2.76/kg against €4.84 and €4.55/kg). This is the mark of a volume auction: whitefish, small pelagics and cephalopods, rather than crustaceans or premium fish.

The port announces about 33,000 t (32,400 t in 2025, €92M), counting the sales declared at the auction hall on top of the invoiced sales; FranceAgriMer, which only counts auction sales, records 18,172 t for French vessels in 2024. More than 70 species are landed and sold, six days out of seven.

The fleet is also distinctive. In 2024, demersal seiners (Danish or Scottish seine) brought in 41% of the volumes and 45% of the value of the auction, ahead of trawlers. Boulogne accounts for more than two thirds of demersal seiner sales at French fish auctions (editorial team's calculation from FranceAgriMer data). For the buyer, this means groundfish and cephalopods worked on short trips.

02

Which species can you find in Boulogne?

Source: FranceAgriMer, 2024 data; shares and ranks calculated by the editorial team on the total of French fish auctions.

Squid alone accounts for a quarter of the value sold in Boulogne. Three quarters of the saithe and more than half of the mackerel sold at auction in France go through this hall. King scallop fetches its highest price here among the auctions that sell more than 1,000 tonnes of it (€2.96/kg on average in 2024, against €2.50/kg nationally).

What about herring? It made Boulogne famous, but it no longer appears among the species FranceAgriMer details for the auction. The hall still sells about 400 t a year, at €0.60 to €0.70/kg (Port Boulogne Calais, 2024 and 2025). It is a winter fish, from November to March, with a clear peak in November. The town produces 65% of French salted and cured fish, according to the Agglomération du Boulonnais.

03

When to buy what? The calendar of the leading species

The calendar marks the months of high landings, read from the monthly sales of all French fish auctions in 2024. For saithe, mackerel, whiting and red mullet, Boulogne weighs heavily enough for the national curve to largely reflect its own.

The price often moves against volumes. For mackerel, the national average price was around €1.70/kg in September and October 2024, at the height of landings, then climbed back above €3/kg in November and December. For cuttlefish, it exceeded €7/kg in June and July, when it becomes scarce, against €4 to €5/kg the rest of the year. For king scallop, it is December, with the holidays, that carries the highest prices of the season.

04

How does the sale work?

• An electronic sale. The auction has been computerised since February 2008: the lots go by, and buyers bid electronically.
• Monday to Saturday, at 6 am; in winter, at 5 am on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. No sale on Sundays or public holidays (Port Boulogne Calais).
• Three ways of selling. Fish is sold at auction, by private agreement, or directly by the vessel owners, often through an "écoreur" (the vessel's agent).
• Registered buyers. The sale is open to fish merchants, fishmongers, restaurateurs, wholesalers and processors, in the room or remotely, after registration with SOFETRA, the auction's guarantee body (Port Boulogne Calais; Article D932-9 of the French rural code). More than 80 companies (fish merchants, fishmongers, salters, canners) buy there, according to the Agglomération du Boulonnais.

The port is operated by the Société d'exploitation des ports du Détroit (Port Boulogne Calais), under a public service delegation from the Hauts-de-France Region since 2015. In September 2026, it launched the "Criée de Boulogne" label, which marks products bought at first sale in the auction hall, with a traceability aim; it is to appear at fishmongers, in supermarkets and at partner restaurants.

05

Capécure: the largest fish merchanting hub in Europe

The Capécure district, on the other side of the Liane river, brings together nearly 200 companies of the seafood sector (Port Boulogne Calais, 2025). According to the press (Le Journal des entreprises, 2026), more than 300,000 tonnes of seafood pass through it every year, overwhelmingly imported, and the area has more than 5,000 direct jobs.

Put this figure next to the auction sales: even taking the 33,000 tonnes announced by the port, the catch landed in Boulogne represents only about a tenth, at most, of the volumes that pass through Capécure (editorial team's calculation). The rest arrives by lorry, from other ports and from abroad. For the buyer, this is the real specificity of the place: a Boulogne fish merchant offers both the day's catch from the auction and imported fish, fresh or frozen. The price list must therefore state clearly the origin, the catch area and the landing date of each line. The price list guide explains how to read it.

We do not publish a list of fish merchants. Company profiles will come with their agreement.

06

How to get fish delivered from Boulogne-sur-Mer?

For an importer, Boulogne has the advantage of geography: the Channel Tunnel and Belgium are less than an hour and a half away by road, and the lines of the seafood transport station already serve Europe. A page dedicated to export is planned in our English section.