Over the centuries, the whaleboats, cod fishing boats, privateering vessels, launches then steamboats, clipper ships as well as tuna fishing boats have brought the port to life, in an unceasing dance. In 2002, to preserve this memory, the Aïrosa boat built in 1953 by the Hiribarren Frères shipyard in Ciboure has been designated as a historic monument. This ship is still in use and has three working masts to carry out traditional coastal fishing using purse seines or poles and lines. Nowadays, the boatbuilding craft is taught at the Marin and Socoa shipyards found in Ciboure.
Among other things, boatbuilders learn how to build traditional boats such as the “batteleku” (a small boat used to fish mackerels, anchovies and hakes) or the “couralin” (a small flat-bottomed boat used to fish tunas). Since 2019, the Marin shipyard has been chosen to build a replica of Alba, a 14-metre-long sardine fishing steamboat originally built in 1907 at the Letamendia shipyard. Sadly, an emblematic figure called Kaskarot, who used to be part of the port scene, is missing. She was a loud-mouthed fish seller who was a regular feature of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure until the beginning of the 20th century.