History


Scallops, which were a fertility symbol for the Greeks, have been enjoyed since very ancient times for their succulent meat. And the shell has been used since prehistoric times as a utensil and for bartering.
For the pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostella, the shell was used for drinking, for eating, and even for begging by the roadside during the Middle Ages. It then became a symbol of piety. Worn around the neck, and present on the coats of arms of the Crusaders, it was quite logical that the shellfish took the name of the pilgrimage in honour of the famous Saint James, in the French language.
For the same reasons, it was also called the "grande pèlerine" ("large pilgrim") or "peigne de Saint-Jacques" ("St James' comb").

Before the Second World War, scallops were plentiful in Saint-Brieuc Bay, people went fishing for them in sailing boats and pulled up the dragnets by hand. But little by little the source of supply ran out.
Luckily, the Bay was rich in fishing resources, so the scallops were forgotten and fishermen concentrated on other, more plentiful items.
After the war, in 1961, a new era started when the trawl of the "Grain de Sel", whose skipper was Edouard Bourel, was pulled in: the scallops were back!

The news got around very quickly, because the following winter, the first boats of a veritable armada of more than 400 followed in his tracks. The fisherman got re-equipped and took up scallop fishing again, all over the Bay.
The 1972-73 fishing season produced 12 metric tons of scallops, which is 3 and-a-half times the quantity fished in 1998! They were fished for day and night, without any limitation. This was a time when there were ample supplies.

The quantity of scallops on the market quickly became too large, prices fell abruptly, and the fishermen felt the need to bring in regulations for this type of fishing. They needed to think of the future and protect such a profitable resource.
So various measures were introduced, at the request of the fishermen, involving the Ifremer scientists, the coastguard authorities and the fishermen themselves. Initially, these measures made it possible to keep prices at an adequate level.
The regulations limiting fishing times and the number of boats by means of the licensing system saved the source of supply from extinction. The great years for scallop fishing were in the past, and starting from the 1970s, the tonnages fished in Saint-Brieuc decreased.

Today, scallops only represent 20 to 30% of the overall turnover of a boat, whereas 20 years ago the figure was 75 %.