Les Sables-d'Olonne fish auction:the Dover sole auction, its species, its seasons and how to get fish delivered

01

The Les Sables-d'Olonne fish auction in figures

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

Les Sables sells half as much fish as Le Guilvinec or Lorient, but almost as much by value: the average price there is 70% higher than in Lorient (€7.76/kg against €4.55/kg). This is the mark of a fish auction for premium fish, caught by net.

The fleet confirms it. In 2024, gillnetters brought in a third of the volumes and 41% of the value, demersal seiners a third of the volumes and 26% of the value, and trawlers about a quarter of the volumes and 21% of the value (editorial team's calculation from FranceAgriMer data). After Boulogne-sur-Mer, Les Sables is the second French fish auction for landings by demersal seiners.

As elsewhere on the coast, landings have fallen: 8,255 tonnes in 2015, 4,852 in 2024. Value has held up better, driven by rising prices.

02

Which species can you find in Les Sables-d'Olonne?

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

Dover sole alone accounts for 29% of the value sold in Les Sables. More than one in five Dover soles sold at auction in France goes through this hall. Les Sables is also the leading fish auction for sand sole (sole-pôle; 42 tonnes, 23% of the national total), another flatfish species, cheaper, not to be confused with Dover sole (sole commune) on a price list.

What about the winter closure? Since 2024, to protect small cetaceans, vessels of 8 metres and over working with gillnets or trammel nets, pelagic or pair trawls, or pelagic seines stay in port for one month in winter in the Bay of Biscay: from 22 January to 20 February from 2024 to 2026. In 2027, it will be thirty consecutive days, chosen by each vessel owner between 15 January and 27 February 2027 and declared before 1 December 2026 (failing a declaration: from 22 January to 20 February 2027); French order of 9 September 2026. For a gillnetters' fish auction like Les Sables, this is a month when Dover sole and hake become scarce. Bear it in mind for your January and February menus.

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 Dover sole, sea bass, red mullet and Atlantic bluefin tuna, Les Sables weighs heavily enough for the national curve to partly reflect its own.

The price often moves against volumes. For Dover sole, the national average price was around €17/kg in March 2024, at the height of landings, against €22 to €23/kg from May to September. For sea bass, the gap is wider: around €10 to €11/kg in January, when it is plentiful, around €22/kg in July and August. Hake follows the same pattern, a little above €3/kg in March, around €6/kg in September. Buying in season often means buying cheaper.

04

How does the sale work?

• Two computerised sales every morning, from 4:15 am, according to the tourist office of the urban area. Buyers bid in the room or remotely.
• An enlarged hall. The seafood centre was restructured and enlarged in 2021, as part of the "Vendée Pêche" project. It has 21 approved fish merchant units (cases de marée), where fish merchants work on site.
• A fish auction managed by the CCI de la Vendée (Vendée Chamber of Commerce and Industry), under a concession from the Département de la Vendée.
• Vessels of all trades. Trawl, pelagic trawl, net, longline, Danish seine, pot: the port is highly diversified, according to the urban area authority.

Bidding remains reserved for buyers declared to the fish auction (Article D932-9 of the French rural code).

05

The fish merchants of the Sables area

Around the fishing port, fish merchanting (mareyage) companies buy in the hall, sort, grade, fillet and ship. Two other Vendée fish auctions, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and Noirmoutier, are less than 100 km away by road, and Dover sole also comes first there in sales by value. A fish merchant (mareyeur) from Les Sables can thus complete their purchases across several sales.

Dover sole is sold by size grade, from 1 (500 g and over) to 5 (120 to 200 g): on a price list, the price of a sole only makes sense with its size grade. The size grades guide gives the full scale, and the price list guide explains how to read a fish merchant's price list.

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

06

How to get fish delivered from Les Sables-d'Olonne?

For an importer, the pattern is the same up to departure: the fish merchant prepares, and the freight forwarder takes over to the airport, Nantes or Paris. For export, see our English section and the directory of French seafood suppliers.