Starting out as a simple tool in the past, the term ‘carrelet’ came to mean over time a more complex construction where the net is mounted on a wooden gangplank on stilts, linked to the coast by a pontoon that also supports a fisherman's hut. The net, suspended on a pole, is generally lowered and lifted by means of a hoist.

These gangplanks ‘on stilts’ that are strung all along the Charentes coastline are very much part of the coastal heritage. The storm of 1999 destroyed 90% of the 700 carrelets of the département; they were rebuilt little by little and two-thirds are now standing. These advanced ‘sentinels’ of the sea are guaranteed to arouse the curiosity of everyone who sees them.