The last seine

PORT-VENDRES, FRANCE, 2018/2019

Port-Vendres, a small port in the South of France in the heart of the Vermeille coast, has many special features. Located a few kilometres from the small Collioure, home to painters such as Matisse and Dufy, it is the second largest fruit port in the Mediterranean and the only deep-water port in the department. Many attractions which make it a meeting place for foreigners, but also a port full of stories and traditions, especially through the practice of the Lamparo fishing.

Forbidden in certain areas of the Mediterranean, the Lamparo fishing was allowed all along the Mediterranean coast in the 1960s. One of the reasons: the repatriation of fishermen from Algeria after the war. All these hands bring back renewal and modernity, making it possible to considerably increase production. At that time, more than forty boats shared the waters of Roussillon. Nowadays, fishermen are resisting and trying to extend the life expectancy of this fishing technique, often traditional over generations.