A floating heritage

Marseille is putting fishing boats back in their place… of honour.

 

There are 502 of them: 133 at the Estaque, 19 at the Frioul and 232 at the Old Port, 118 in the southern harbour and the “calanques” (creeks). The traditional Marseilles fishing boats are now counted and listed, with details of their owners, background, use and condition. All types of Marseilles fishing boats (“barquettes”, “bettes”, “rafiaus”, “mourres”, “pilotes”)… each pointy-ended fishing boat has its own ID card.

 

But what for? To create yet more regulations? To create yet more bumf? For tax reasons? No. The “fishing boat census” aims, on the contrary, at protecting, privileging and increasing the value of these boats, typical of Marseilles, previously fishing boats, now increasingly dedicated to pleasure boating, and soon to become tools of economic development.

Because there are several ideas in the air, and as always, love is involved. For several years, fans of the seascape believed that these working boats belonged, along with the great yachts, to the historical nautical heritage. Organisations such as Leï Pescadou de l’Estaco, Avenir Traditions Marines or Boud’mer worked to restore the “pointus” and convince their owners not to abandon them in favour of “plastic bathtubs”.

Each to their own, but it’s clear that they prefer wood, tow and bright colours.

 

Individuals in love with their boats, small traditional shipyards (Scotto, Borg) taking on the family torch, and the vocational secondary school Poinso-Chapuis giving courses in the construction of boats.

A cultural heritage? The owners find it hard to accept: a cultural heritage doesn’t catch fish and doesn’t take the family out on a Sunday. On the other hand, it requires several hours of work in order to scrape, caulk, nail, repaint… And then, how do you get a cyclist in the Tour de France to understand that he has to train on a hobby horse because this wooden, pedal-less ancestor of the bicycle belongs to his Culture … Fortunately, you don’t catch fewer fish with a 1910 Ruoppolo than with the latest invention from Jeanneau!

 

Then there’s the big money. And the small money. The big money comes from tourism. “When a coach full of Japanese tourists stops on the Old Port, you think that they’re going to take photos of Franck Camas’ Groupama or the Carpe Diem. Not at all; they all want to see the fishing boats. It is our emblem, our equivalent of the Eiffel Tower” declares Daniel Imbert, Chairman of Avenir Traditions Marines, one of the key players in the census.

For the visitors, the Bonne-Mère and the Saint Jean Fort are not important. In the heart and in the imagination, the fishing boats with their shimmering colours, round shapes and virile “capians” or “capions” (turgescent bulge at the front of the boat) knock the beautiful piles of stone for six, despite their rich history. The fishing boat and the Latin sail tell the legend of Marseilles just as well.

 

As for the small money, there are projects and the possibility for the happy and hardworking owners of these floating museums to take advantage of certain privileges – still yet to be fixed – in order to moor their treasures more easily and at a better cost.

Among the ideas combining the concerns of everybody: an “old marine” landing stage clearly visible in the Old Port – on the quai des Belges next to the fish market? Or in the sheltered dock of the future Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations? – an attractive and educational display of the various “local” boats.

 

The thousands of tourists who come down from the Canebière (historic high street in old Marseilles), who take the tourist boats to the islands or the sightseeing passenger boats to the “calanques” (creeks) will have a splendid view of the hulls, all similar yet all different, as well as watching the fishermen arriving and the fishmongers haranguing the passers-by. In exchange for which, the boats displayed must look nice and there must be rota among the owners to ensure a permanent and lively contact with the curious tourists.

The aim is also to provide entertainment: sea ditties near the boats for the Music Festival, demonstrations of seamanship on the harbour and in nautical fairs, outings on the lake and in the harbour for every nautical event, like the “Voiles du Vieux Port”, the living Heritage Day, and, of course, September in the Sea which will end with the “Ronde des Capians”…

We can’t wait.

 

Christophe Naigeon

 

The project presented by the Town of Marseilles in partnership with the Office de la Mer (Sea Affairs Board) is the French part of a European programme, Marimed, which aims at making fishing a factor of development for sustainable tourism. At a time when the fishing industry is experiencing difficulties, the idea is to diversify the fishermen’s resources. And as in Marseilles and its surrounding areas, the fishing boat is indissolubly linked to the “small trade” fishing activity, European funding has come to the rescue. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

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