Douarnenez

Great little seaport (well 3 ports actually), now home to lots of luxury yachts and a relatively modest fishing fleet.  Like Concarneau, the heyday for Douarnenez was the late 19th century when the sardine industry was in its prime. The region developed the technology for preserving the fish in tin cans and numerous supporting industries such as shipbuilding, fish canneries, rope making and net weaving sprung up around the fishing industry.

Queuing for Plougastel strawberries at the market. When i joined it the line was about 10 people long.

They were so “successful” in exploiting the resource that the fish stocks became disastrously depleted at the beginning of the 20th century leading to a sharp decline in the industry and in the wealth of the area. Today the fishing industry mainly revolves around the tuna catch.

You're not serious!  Go fishing in that thing?

I visited the Port Musée which was home to numerous designs of (mainly) fishing boats from all parts of the world. There were also videos and informative displays about the sardine industry and the canneries. There was also a great exhibition of photographs by Michel Thersiquel who I later learned is a close colleague of Jean-Jacques Banide: great portraits of the people of the area going about their daily industry.

1960s vintage washing facilities

Foundations of the garum factory

I took a beautiful coastal walk from Port Rosmeur through the area of Plomarc’h. First I happened across an old lavoir, which was still being used as the communal laundry facility into the 1960s. But the highlight here is the ruin of a 2nd or 3rd century Gallo-Roman garum factory further along. This was clearly quite an enterprise and shows how the region has grown with the fishing trade from very early times.

Panormic view of Port Rosmeur taken from Plomarc'h