Cherbourg fish auction:its species, its seasons and how to get fish delivered

01

The Cherbourg fish auction in figures

Source: FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions in 2024; ranks calculated by the editorial team on 34 auction halls.

2024 was a difficult year: 9% less volume and 17% less value over one year, with an average price down 8%. Over ten years, landings have fallen by a quarter (5,757 tonnes in 2015), like French fish auctions as a whole. The low average price comes from the weight of king scallop, whiting and small trawl fish.

Trawlers bring most of the landings: those FranceAgriMer classes as "exclusive" brought 61% of volumes and 62% of value in 2024, "non-exclusive" trawlers, which alternate fishing methods, 23% of volumes, and dredgers 9% (editorial team's calculation from FranceAgriMer data). The port manager states that offshore fishing makes up 70% of the fish auction's landings and inshore fishing 30%.

02

Which species can you find in Cherbourg?

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

King scallop makes up nearly a quarter of the value sold (23% in 2024), squid 15% and whiting 11%. Whiting is the fish auction's true speciality: 569 tonnes in 2024, up 43% over one year, one sixth of the whiting sold at auction in France. Cuttlefish, for its part, dropped from 474 to 168 tonnes in one year. For the buyer, Cherbourg is above all a fish auction for everyday products at moderate prices (king scallop, whiting, smooth-hound, pouting, ray), with a few premium fish (John Dory, Dover sole, sea bass) in small quantities.

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 king scallop, it reflects the common rule: fishing closed from 15 May to 30 September inclusive (order of 12 May 2003), with the opening then set bed by bed, by order.

Price often moves against volumes. For squid, the national average price fell to €4.80/kg in October 2024, at the height of landings, and went above €12/kg from March to May, when it is scarce. Whiting was worth less than €2/kg in February, its most plentiful month, and about €3.50/kg in April and November. For king scallop, the national average price went from about €2/kg in May, at the end of the season, to €2.90/kg in December.

04

How does the sale work?

• Computerised auctions, in the room or remotely. The fish auction centre (Centre de Marée) sells by auction and by contract (private agreement). According to the port manager, 90% of buyers bid remotely and 10% in the sale room; they are spread across France, mostly in the north-west quarter.
• Declared buyers with the manager of the auction hall (Article D932-9 of the French rural code). The sale time is not published: check with the fish auction or your fish merchant.
• Quayside services: storage, sorting, weighing, traceability and delivery, ice, cold rooms and live storage tank (Cherbourg Port, Ports de Normandie).
• A public manager. Since 1 January 2022, the local public company Cherbourg Port has managed the fishing port, including the Centre de Marée, under a public service delegation between Ports de Normandie and the Cotentin urban community (communauté d'agglomération du Cotentin). A resizing of the Centre de Marée is under study.

05

The fish merchants of the Cotentin

Around the port, fish merchanting (mareyage) companies buy at the auction hall or remotely, sort, grade, fillet and ship. With a sale so open to distant buyers, Cherbourg fish travels far from the Cotentin: a local fish merchant mainly brings sorting, preparation and packing. The price list guide explains how to read their offer, and our guide fish merchant, wholesaler or fish auction helps choose whom to buy from.

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

06

How to get fish delivered from Cherbourg?