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Languedoc-Roussillon
In Port-la-Nouvelle, the lagoon eel is more than just a catch: it is a chapter celebrated each spring by the village brotherhood, around a bourride simmered just as in the days of the fishermen.
Seafood from Languedoc-Roussillon.
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The étang de Bages-Sigean spans 5,500 hectares between the communes of Bages, Peyriac-de-Mer, Sigean, and Port-la-Nouvelle; the latter's grau is the sole link between the lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea. This configuration has always made it eel territory: the fish thrives in Languedoc-Roussillon thanks to its fondness for lagoons, and it has sustained generations of local residents living around the étangs — everyday fare for seafaring folk, and a choice delicacy or even a luxury on other tables.
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On the étangs of Bages, Peyriac-de-Mer, and Leucate, eel fishing is still carried out using ancestral methods: the bétou, a flat-bottomed boat; the trabac, a fine-meshed net; and the partègue, a wooden pole used to propel and steer the craft, are used to trap this agile fish, which spends seven to fourteen years in the lagoon before transforming into a silver eel and returning to the sea to reproduce. Along the Aude coastline, commercial fishing is conducted using the capétchade and the verveux — a trap limited to 60 per fisherman — and 29 professional fishermen were recorded in Port-la-Nouvelle and Bages, out of around 200 across the entire Languedoc coast.
The Confrérie de l'Anguille Nouvelloise, a 1901-law association registered on 24 April 2023 in Port-la-Nouvelle, aims to 'promote the image, heritage, history, and gastronomy of Port-la-Nouvelle', in particular the eel, and to 'perpetuate an ancestral know-how of cooking eel, jealously guarded by fishing families and handed down through generations'. Its annual chapter is held on the day of the town's Fête de l'Anguille, which features a flea market and a parade of brotherhoods, while participating restaurants serve the traditional bourride d'anguille.
Appearance
two stages of the fish are caught and marketed — the yellow eel, which is younger, and the silver eel, which has reached maturity before heading back to the sea —, each subject to distinct regulatory fishing periods.
Taste
prepared as a bourride, the eel flesh is simmered in a stew of fish and shellfish coated with aïoli, sometimes 'à la tomate' depending on the establishment.
the bétou, trabac, and partègue remain in use on the étangs of Bages, Peyriac-de-Mer, and Leucate.
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Bourride d'anguilles is traditionally enjoyed in Port-la-Nouvelle on the day of the Fête de l'Anguille in early May, in participating restaurants that serve it alongside the brotherhoods' parade and the annual chapter of the Confrérie de l'Anguille Nouvelloise.
Anguille nouvelloise is not protected by any official quality mark. Its heritage rests on the tradition of fishing families around the étang de Bages-Sigean and on the work of the Confrérie de l'Anguille Nouvelloise, a 1901-law non-profit association registered in 2023 in Port-la-Nouvelle, which organises the town's annual Fête de l'Anguille.
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