Nuit des pêcheurs, an institution!

For its 22nd edition, the Nuit des Pêcheurs has kept the ingredients that have made it an eagerly awaited event for everyone: Provençal, iodized, and sweet flavors, long tables, a sea breeze, and great music. All food lovers and gourmands therefore gathered on August 4th on the esplanades of the port Saint-Louis du Mourillon. Because it is an institution. For 22 years, the Nuit des Pêcheurs has been bringing together large numbers of fish lovers and, more broadly, seafood enthusiasts. Toulonnais and tourists come to settle in, with family or friends, to enjoy the dishes prepared by the fishermen and the food professionals present. 11 professional fishermen from the baie de Tamaris and about twenty local aquaculture artisans thus delight young and old alike, with, this year, the musical entertainment of the group The Vesper as a backdrop.

Well known to the Toulonnais, the port Saint-Louis du Mourillon was until the end of the 19th century a haven for fishermen who hauled their boats onto the Lido beaches to protect them from bad weather. They also took the opportunity to spread their nets on a piece of land known as the pré des pêcheurs to the northwest of Fort Saint-Louis, which has now given its name to an avenue. It was following a petition requesting the creation of a shelter for fishing boats, which were particularly numerous during the sardine season, that a 125m long jetty was built between 1898 and 1899 to the west of the fort. In 1943, improvement works were also carried out. The appearance of the harbor, which was first called port des ganguis, has remained unchanged since then. Today, the port Saint-Louis du Mourillon, managed directly by the métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée, the port authority, since January 1, 2024, has 265 berths at the dock and afloat.