The Buyers

The buyers, all women, are hired by the different canneries to negotiate the price for fish. Those former workers, deemed too old to work in the factories, are fish experts. They know the difference between what good fish is and what is not. They are all there – at the end of the pier – 20 or sometimes 30 – watching for the first sails. In Breton they are called “komiserez”, the commissaries. As soon as the boats arrive, they shout the prices they are ready to pay at the captain in order to win the first bids.