Saint Tropez travel guide

The harbour is well known for the beautiful sailing ships on its quays. But you will also find real fishermen here, and their traditional boats.

André Raggio comes from a long line of fishermen, seven generations in all. After he retired ten years ago, his son took over the family business, but he still comes to lend him a hand. There are only five fishing boat owners left in the port of Saint Tropez. Fifty years ago, there were sixty of them. "At the time, we caught spiny lobster, a large amount of sardines, and sea bream. With the expansion of pleasure boating, we had to give up using trawl nets. When we placed the nets in the morning, we never knew what state they would be at the end of the day. So we now keep to rock fish, red mullet, black and red scorpion fish and the like, what we call "rock soup". Now and then we catch a bit of John Dory or the odd lobster." The fishermen of Saint Tropez are not about to give up… Saint Tropez, once a fishing and a commercial port, has gradually become an internationally known marina. "We have the largest concentration of pleasure boats in the Mediterranean, between 5 and 6,000" André Raggio comments, somewhat wearily. "Motorboats, yachts, outboards, tour boats and even cruisers: you see them going out to the beach every morning, and coming in every evening. The sea is agitated, day and night, in a very bad way indeed!" Although the traditional fishing boats with their pointed prows, like André's, now seem quaint, they are manned by real fishermen. "It's a hard job. If you want to make a living, you have to work twelve to thirteen hours a day, weekends included. No holidays, no minimum wage. But it's still a great occupation. Even if cohabitation with the leisure sailors is sometimes difficult, the fishermen of Saint Tropez are not about to give up!"

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