Sète fish auction:Mediterranean fish, its seasons and how to get fish delivered

01

The Sète fish auction in figures

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

The Mediterranean weighs little in French fish auctions: 6,359 tonnes in 2024, only four auction halls (Le Grau-du-Roi, Sète, Agde, Port-la-Nouvelle), barely more than 4% of national volumes. Sète sells a quarter of it. Its landings have fallen by 23% in ten years (2,043 tonnes in 2015), in the context of the European management plan for demersal fisheries in the western Mediterranean (Regulation (EU) 2019/1022): since 2020, it has regulated the fishing effort of trawlers, and trawling is prohibited within 6 miles of the coast three months a year, except beyond a depth of 100 metres.

02

Which species can you find in Sète?

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

No species dominates: the first, monkfish, makes up only 13% of the value. This is the mark of Mediterranean trawling, which lands a varied assortment in small quantities every day: octopus, red mullet, shrimp, small pelagics, rockfish.

Mediterranean prices are not Atlantic prices. For the same species, the average auction price in Sète or Le Grau-du-Roi can differ sharply from the national average:

Source: FranceAgriMer, 2024 average prices by auction hall and by species; differences calculated by the editorial team.

For hake, Dover sole or monkfish, the Mediterranean is more expensive on average, on small volumes; the statistics do not give the reason. Gilthead sea bream is the exception: it is sold mainly in autumn, when it is plentiful and its national price falls to around €9/kg. For a buyer, the conclusion is simple: comparing a Sète price list with a Breton price list only makes sense species by species, size grade by size grade.

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. Note: for most species, these curves reflect the Atlantic and the English Channel. Only gilthead sea bream, more than half of which is sold by Mediterranean fish auctions, really follows the Sète rhythm; the other rows are indicative.

Wild gilthead sea bream is the best example of the link between season and price: in 2024, its national average price was around €16 to €17/kg from May to August, when little was sold, and fell to around €9/kg in October, at the peak of landings. For octopus, the July and August low precedes the October peak.

04

How does the sale work?

• In the afternoon, when the boats come back. "Every afternoon, returning from fishing, local fishermen bring their catch to the fish auction for sale," writes the Port of Sète, with no fixed time.
• A computerised sale since 1968, presented by the port as the first in Europe. The auction is descending (a so-called Dutch auction) and can be followed in the amphitheatre of the fish auction or remotely over the Internet; private agreement is also possible.
• About a hundred species, around 120 according to the port, reserved for trade professionals.
• About 50 buyers, according to the port, fish merchants, wholesalers and retailers, declared to the administrative department of the fish auction hall.

The fishing port has been managed since 2007 by Port Sud de France, the public body of the Occitanie Region that operates the port of Sète. The hall is not open to the public; the tourist office organises visits on certain dates.

05

What rarely goes through the Sète fish auction

Two emblematic Sète products rarely go through the hall.

• Purse seiners' Atlantic bluefin tuna. Sète is the home port of tuna purse seiners. The purse seine is only allowed from 19 May to 1 July, under quota (Regulation (EU) 2023/2053, as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/497); the tuna caught are transferred alive into cages, then towed to fattening sites in Spain or Malta (Sathoan, producer organisation). The fish auction sold only 4 tonnes of Atlantic bluefin tuna in 2024, against 188 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
• Shellfish from the Étang de Thau. Oysters and mussels are farmed shellfish, sold by shellfish farmers; they do not appear among the species most sold at the fish auction (Port of Sète). Before retail sale, they must go through an approved dispatch centre (Regulation (EC) No 853/2004); our Pacific oyster profile explains size grades and appellations.

Around the port, fish merchanting (mareyage) companies buy in the hall, sort and ship; they can complete the local catch with purchases at other fish auctions. The price list guide explains how to read their price lists. We do not publish a list of fish merchants. Company profiles will come with their agreement.

06

How to get fish delivered from Sète?

For an importer, Sète is a small volume but a fish that is rare on the market: the fish merchant prepares, and the freight forwarder takes over. For export, see our English section and the directory of French seafood suppliers.