Vivier Gallo-Romain

Comprising a succession of 3 pools, the reservoir was used to capture and preserve fish.

This Gallo-Roman reservoir at Pointe de la Calle, to the south of Port Ferréol, is a listed Historical Monument. It occupies a natural bay of 20 metres in length and varying in width between 5 and 12 metres. It runs along a north-south line between the shore and five rocks.

It was arranged to provide the different temperatures required by living fish in different seasons and at different times of day. It was used to trap and retain spawning fish (15th March/15th June).
This reservoir probably belonged to the Roman villa located 1 km northwards in the bay of La Gaillarde.

Low walls divided the reservoir into three pools of varying widths and depths.
The flow of sea water was probably controlled by sluice gates. Fishing techniques were based on the fish-trap reservoir principle.
Fresh fish was retained in an artisanal reservoir carved out of the rock and used to make garum (a kind of dried-fish sauce). In fact, a nearby property still has a garum storage tank. Bad smells must have emanated from the reservoir, which explains its distance from any of the Roman villas (the nearest is about 500 metres away in the Gaillarde valley).