Forban du Bono

In 1906, in the port of Le Bono, a village of Plougoumelen in the Gulf of Morbihan, more than a hundred forbans, on board of which fishermen worked with their trawl nets during the summer from Belle-Île to Île d 'Yeu, chasing soles, flounders and rays, while the women and retirees of the population were dedicated to the exploitation of flat oysters on the shores of the marsh. In the autumn the forbans returned to Quiberon Bay to fish for hake. The three men and the cabin boy in their crew carried the trawl net using the winch and the bow sheave. The starboard shroud of the mainmast was movable and was used for boarding the codend. Within the fishing communities that from Audierne to Les Sables d'Olonne assembled hundreds of fishing boats equipped, depending on the port and the season, with different gear, such as purse seines, lines, traps, etc., the sinners of Le Bono, specialists in coastal trawling, they occupied a unique position for practicing only one type of fishing. The creation of the fish markets of Le Croisic or La Trinité sur mer, connected to the railway network, together with the urbanization and expansion of La Baule or Saint Nazaire, played a fundamental role in this specialization, since they offered the fishermen of Le Bono an "economic niche" free of competition. A curiosity is that in French the term forban designates a pirate, someone who undertakes an armed expedition at sea for his own benefit without authorization. It is said that the fishermen of Seine (crew of the synagots) and other inhabitants of the Gulf of Morbihan considered those of Le Bono as surly and unsociable people. Thus, this nickname forban was given to both the fishermen of Le Bono and their boats.