Sardine:professional buying guide, season, count per kilo, purse seine or trawl

01

Buying sheet

Size categories: Regulation (EC) No 2406/96, Annex II. Minimum size: Regulation (EU) 2019/1241. Yield: FAO, Technical Paper No 309 (1989). Shares calculated by the editorial team from the sales declared at French fish auctions in 2024 (FranceAgriMer). These figures only cover fish sold at auction.

02

When to buy sardine?

Summer and early autumn. In 2024, French fish auctions sold about 1,800 tonnes of sardine in July and 1,900 in August, still more than 1,200 in September and October; then 500 in November and 125 in December. 2025 confirms the same rhythm, with a peak from July to October. At Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, the fishing season runs from early April to early October depending on the weather.

03

When is sardine oily?

Fat makes the flavour of sardine, and it varies a lot: the Label Rouge specification for the Vendée canned sardines records, for sardine used in ordinary canning, fat contents of 0.4 to 23.2%. The Label Rouge specifications only accept sufficiently oily sardines: at least 8% for one, at least 7% for the other, and the latter puts this period at May to November, as a guide. In winter and early spring, sardine is generally leaner; for grilling or marinating, summer and autumn are the seasons to aim for.

04

How to read the count (moule) of a sardine?

The "moule" is the number of sardines in a kilo: the smaller it is, the bigger the fish. A "moule 23" weighs on average a little over 40 g, a "moule 35" a little under 30 g. The Label Rouge specifications set counts of 20 to 32 and of 14 to 32 sardines per kilo.

Categories: Regulation (EC) No 2406/96, Annex II. Uses: kitchen guidelines, to be adapted to the menu.

On a batch announced at a given count, weigh a few fish on delivery: a higher count than expected changes the number of pieces per plate, and so the cost of the portion.

05

Purse seine or pelagic trawl: what is the difference?

The bolinche, or purse seine, encircles a spotted shoal and then closes from below. The fish stay alive in the bag until transhipment, are taken out with a brail (a large dip net) and poured into tanks of chilled seawater: they arrive whole and not much crushed. The purse seine targets shoals that are often uniform in species and size, which limits sorting.

The pelagic trawl is a large funnel-shaped net towed in midwater by one or two vessels. It catches large quantities, with a risk of crushing, lower when the net is towed by two boats. Trawling does not rule out quality: the Vendée Label Rouge specification is based on pelagic-trawled sardines, of extra freshness, landed no later than 12 hours after catching.

On a price list, the mention "bolinche" gives information on the gear; freshness is judged on the fish and on the time between catch and delivery.

06

What does the sardine Label Rouge guarantee?

At Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, sardine fishing is listed in the inventory of intangible cultural heritage: pairs of boats fish it with pelagic trawls from April to early October, and land it for the fish auction or the cannery. The associated Label Rouge, "Sardines à l'huile d'olive vierge extra préparées à l'ancienne" (sardines in extra virgin olive oil prepared the traditional way, LA 33/99), covers the canned product: fresh sardines of extra quality, at least 8% fat, 20 to 32 per kilo. In Brittany, two other Label Rouge cover purse-seined sardine: one for canned sardines (LA 01/03), the other for sardines and sardine fillets (LA 02/06). On a fresh fish price list, "Saint-Gilles" or "bolinche" refer to a port or a gear: a Label Rouge must be stated in writing.

07

Why so little Mediterranean sardine at auction?

In the Mediterranean, sardine has almost disappeared from French fish auctions (3 tonnes sold at Port-la-Nouvelle in 2024). According to Ifremer, in the Gulf of Lion, catches collapsed not because the fish was lacking, but because the sardines, which had become smaller and leaner, no longer found a market; the exploitation rate there had not exceeded 2% since 2013.

08

How to judge the freshness of a sardine?

Shiny skin, blue-green back, silvery sides; bulging, clear eye; bright red gills; stiff body; firm belly, never burst. Scales coming off are common in this small, fragile fish. Strong smell, soft or open belly: the batch should be refused.

09

Which traps to avoid?

• Histamine. Sardine is one of the species rich in histidine, for which the EU regulation sets histamine limits: poorly chilled, it produces histamine, and cooking does not destroy it. Check the temperature on delivery.
• Raw and marinated. A sardine served raw or marinated must have been frozen for at least 24 hours at -20 °C (or 15 hours at -35 °C) against the anisakis risk, except for the exemptions provided by the regulation.
• Mixed counts. For regular grilling or fillets of the same size, ask for a sorted batch.
• The name. For canned products, the name "sardines" is reserved for products prepared exclusively from Sardina pilchardus (Regulation (EEC) No 2136/89).

10

What to replace sardine with?

11

What makes the price of sardine move?

Year 2024, average first-sale prices at auction, all of France (FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions). The auction price is not the price paid to the fish merchant: processing, transport and margin are added to it.

This average price is first of all that of a raw material for canning. Three of the four largest sardine auctions (Douarnenez, Saint-Guénolé, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie) are canning ports, and at Douarnenez sardine alone accounts for 87% of the value sold at auction. The large tonnages sell there at a tight price, between about €0.80 and €0.90/kg, which pulls the national average down. EUMOFA puts France well below its neighbours: from November 2021 to October 2024, sardine sold there at €0.75/kg on average at first sale, against €2.82/kg in Spain.

The price moves little with landings. From March to November 2024, it stayed between about €0.80 and €0.90/kg, whether the auctions sold 500 or 1,900 tonnes a month; only December, with 125 tonnes, departs from this (about €1.30/kg). In spring, part of the landings finds no buyer at the market price: in April 2024, 13% of the volumes put up for sale were withdrawn by producer organisations, against less than 1% from June to December. The auctions where sardine sells in smaller quantities show higher prices (about €1.10/kg at Lorient, €1.20 at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, €2 at Les Sables-d'Olonne): size, sorting and outlets to the fresh market probably explain part of this.

• Sorting and size: an extra sardine, sorted by count, does not have the price of a batch bound for the factory.
• Fat: summer and autumn sardine, oilier, is the most sought after; yet it is the cheapest season, abundance outweighing demand.
• Gear and handling: a whole, uncrushed fish fetches more than a crushed batch.
• The end of the season: in December, the supply of fresh sardine shrinks to almost nothing.
• The cost of the chain: on a fish sold for less than €1/kg at auction, ice, sorting, packing and transport weigh heavily, in proportion, in the delivered price.