Arcachon Marine fishing port is ranked as 16th out of 40 in France and has a flotilla of 27 boats with 250 anglers. Fourteen of the boats are fishing trawlers and 13 boats use nets for catching sole, by raising nets from the seabed every day. The vessel lengths vary between 14 and 21 metres. Additionally, there are 6 coastal patrol boats and 20 smaller fishing boats (5 to 7 metres) that only fish within the Arcachon Basin.
Arcachon marine annual fishing catches are around 2 500 tonnes and valued at 14 million euros. Sole, sea bass, cuttlefish, squid and turbot are the main catches and fish sales occur during the mornings of every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Arcachon Marine is the second most important fishing port on the west coast of France, after La Rochelle.
Arcachon marine has a capacity for 2600 boater’s rings spread over 28 pontoons that are equipped with lighting, electricity and water.
The fishing port of Arcachon Marine was home to the word’s first steam powered trawler in 1837 and, in 1865, the first French steamer with an iron hull and propeller. The first French trawler with an internal combustion engine was also berthed in Arcachon Marine from 1927. The oyster production from Arcachon Bay is around 18 000 tonnes per year. Japanese oysters were imported to replace the Portugese oysters that were all killed in 1970 by disease. Previously, in 1920, all the Arcachon flat oysters were killed by disease and were replaced by the Portuguese oysters.