Erquy fish auction:king scallop from the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, the seasons and how to get fish delivered

01

The Erquy fish auction in figures

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

Landings fell by 9% in one year, and by 11% since 2015 (11,331 tonnes), less than French fish auctions as a whole, which lost a quarter of their volumes over the same period. The average price remains moderate, at €3.10/kg against €4.13/kg nationally: king scallop and low-priced trawl fish weigh heavily in the volumes.

Trawlers clearly dominate. Those FranceAgriMer classes as "exclusive" brought 57% of volumes and 66% of value in 2024; "non-exclusive" trawlers, which alternate fishing methods, 21% of volumes, and dredgers 21% (editorial team's calculation from FranceAgriMer data). Gillnetters and potters weigh almost nothing here.

02

Which species can you find in Erquy?

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 only a fifth of the value sold (20% in 2024). It remains the fish auction's leading species, but in 2024 Erquy was only the fifth fish auction in France for king scallop, behind Dieppe, Port-en-Bessin, Saint-Quay-Portrieux and Granville. Its average price there was €2.13/kg, below the national average of €2.50/kg; the data do not say why.

Erquy's other face is trawl fish. Nearly three in ten John Dory sold at auction in France go through Erquy, and monkfish brought in €4.0 million there in 2024, nearly two thirds of the value of king scallop. At the other end of the range, red gurnard, conger eel, smooth-hound and spurdog are sold in large volumes at low prices (around €1/kg on average for conger eel and gurnard), useful for a soup, a canteen or a local fishmonger.

03

King scallop from the Bay of Saint-Brieuc

King scallop fishing in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc is regulated by the Brittany regional fisheries committee, at the request of the Côtes-d'Armor departmental committee. The 2026-2027 season opened for dredging on Thursday 1 October 2026. Days and times are set in blocks of a few weeks:

Source: Brittany regional committee for marine fisheries, decisions No 144-2026 of 22 September 2026, No 164-2026 and No 167-2026 of 15 October 2026. The rest of the calendar is set by a new decision.

Three rules directly concern the buyer:

• A fishery of a few hours a week. In sectors 1 and 4, dredging only works one hour per fishing day. Landings therefore arrive in bursts, on authorised days.
• A daily cap per boat, including the crew's share (godaille): 1,050 kg net in sectors 1 and 4, 1,250 kg net in sectors 2 and 3.
• All catches are presented at the fish auction to be weighed and recorded. Diving is regulated by a separate decision (No 145-2026).

King scallop fishing is closed everywhere from 15 May to 30 September inclusive (order of 12 May 2003). The calendar changes every season and may be modified during the season: for the coming weeks, check with your fish merchant.

04

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.

Price often moves against volumes. For king scallop, the national average price went from about €2/kg in May 2024, at the end of the season, to €2.90/kg in December. John Dory was worth about €13/kg in January and went above €18/kg from July to September. Monkfish stayed around €5.50 to €5.80/kg for a good part of the year, then rose to more than €9/kg in December, with the holidays.

05

How does the sale work?

• Auctions reserved for buyers declared to 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.
• A sister fish auction in Saint-Quay-Portrieux, on the other side of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc: 9,654 tonnes sold in 2024 for €30.4 million, fourth fish auction in France by volume, including 3,446 tonnes of king scallop (third fish auction for this species).
• A new manager. Since 1 January 2026, the semi-public company Bretagne Armor Pêche has managed seven departmental fishing ports of the Côtes-d'Armor; in 2026, the Département is paying it a grant for works at the Erquy and Saint-Quay-Portrieux fish auctions (hygiene, ice production, safety).

06

The fish merchants of the bay

Around Erquy and Saint-Quay, fish merchanting (mareyage) companies buy at the auction hall, sort, grade, pack and ship. In the king scallop season, the offer is split between whole scallops, sold live by weight, and scallop meat, with or without roe: the two do not compare at the same price. Always ask what the price list line refers to; the price list guide explains how to read it, and the king scallop profile details size grades and yield.

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

07

How to get fish delivered from Erquy?