PURCHASING SHRIMP FOR AT-HOME CONSUMPTION: THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF CREDENCE VERSUS PHYSICAL PRODUCT FEATURES

Consumers have become increasingly concerned with the quality, safety and production features of food. Certain population segments will pay more for food products carrying a label identifying credence features that consumers cannot evaluate, even after consumption. Seventy-nine market research questionnaires were completed by consumers purchasing live shrimp at two harvest sales at a University of Florida pond aquaculture facility. A conjoint analysis experiment was included to quantify the utility value and relative importance of seven different shrimp product physical and credence features: species, size, refrigeration state, product form, purchase price, country of origin label, and production method label. Both credence features had positive impacts on shrimp product utility, with country of origin label conferring higher positive utility than any other shrimp feature. Utility associated with wild-harvested shrimp was slightly higher than the utility of farm-raised shrimp. These results provide justification of seafood industry support for mandatory country of origin labeling.     

CERTIFICATION OF SHRIMP AND SALMON FOR BEST AQUACULTURE PRACTICES: ASSESSING CONSUMER PREFERENCES IN RHODE ISLAND

This study uses a conjoint experiment to evaluate seafood consumers’ preferences for wild versus farmed seafood in Rhode Island, while providing an option for farmed products to be certified for best aquaculture practices, focusing upon salmon and shrimp. The definition for best aquaculture practices provided to respondents in the survey is broadly based upon standards currently in use by aquaculture certification groups, highlighting sustainability of fish feed, and control of antibiotic use, water quality and stocking density. Using data from an in-person intercept survey, a conditional logit model shows that a sample of 250 seafood consumers in Rhode Island choose wild products over farmed even when farmed products are certified, and by an entity preferred by the consumer. Results warrant both further study of consumer preferences for certified aquaculture products across a broader population, and study of the effect of different explanations of ‘best aquaculture practices’ upon preferences.     

Sustainable Aquaculture Products: Implications of Consumer Awareness and of Consumer Preferences for Promising Market Communication in Germany

Sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important in Western food consumption. This research aims at identifying ways to increase the market share of sustainable fish from aquaculture by analyzing consumer awareness and preferences for sustainable aquaculture products and by drawing conclusions on improving communication in the German market. An integrative research approach was used: it began with an inventory of sustainable seafood products on the German market, followed by qualitative and quantitative consumer research, and ending with a stakeholder workshop, which reflected on the research outcome with practitioners. Sustainability and country of origin proved to be of minor relevance to the vast majority of the consumers interviewed. Indeed, attributes such as freshness, taste, and price frequently ranked higher. Like most of the other consumers, the small consumer segment that is generally interested in sustainability issues of food also often lacks knowledge of fish farming and its products. Consequently, communication of sustainability in aquaculture is challenging, and the development of this market requires concerted actions along the whole value chain, with the retail sector as the main actor.     

Consumer Willingness to Pay for a Saline Fish Species Grown in the US Midwest: The Case of Striped Bass,Morone saxatilis

The US Midwest region has saline water resources that include saline aquifers, saline springs, water from oil extraction, effluents from coal beneficiation, water produced from coal‐bed methane production, and other industrial effluents. There is considerable quantity of saline water in the Midwest to support a saltwater aquaculture industry. Striped bass, Morone saxatilis, is a saline fish species that has attracted interest in the Midwest region for aquaculture production. The study used willingness‐to‐pay information from consumers to assess the potential market for striped bass grown in the Midwest. The results suggest that males and consumers of age 29 yr and younger are more likely to pay higher amounts for striped bass. In particular, consumers who prefer farmed and fresh seafood, those who purchase seafood frequently for home consumption, and those who consume seafood 26–50% of the time when eating out have a higher probability of paying higher amounts for striped bass grown in the Midwest.     

Preliminary Observations on the Marketability of Saltwater-Cultured Florida Red Tilapia in Puerto Rico

A preliminary assessment of the marketability of saltwatercultured Florida red tilapia was conducted at a farm outlet store and at nine restaurants in Puerto Rico. Florida red tilapia were grown in six 0.2-ha ponds at 22.7 ± 1.2 (mean ± SE) ppt salinity by a commercial aquaculture enterprise in Dorado, northeastern Puerto Rico. Customers purchased 4,683kg of dressed-out fish (gilled, gutted and scaled) at $7.70/kg and 826kg of whole fish at $6.60/kg from a retail outlet store located at the aquaculture farm, and nine restaurants purchased 1,071kg of dressed-out fish at wholesale prices ranging from $4.96 to $5.18/kg. Farm outlet customers and restaurants preferred dressed-out fish between 454–567g and 567–580g, respectively. Prices paid per serving by restaurant customers for red tilapia ($7.00–$25.00) were similar to that paid for silk snapper Lutjanus vivanus , a popular marine food fish in Puerto Rico. Market surveys of customers at these outlets showed that 75–81% of the respondents were new consumers of red tilapia and that they rated red tilapia highly in taste, texture, freshness, and presentation and equal to or better than silk snapper. There was no effect ( P > 0.05) of age group or economic level on consumer responses. Survey participants stressed the need for product promotion, including a more markehriented name that emphasized the red color and that it was farm-raised in saltwater, to distinguish it from darkcolored, wild-caught freshwater tilapia. Local saltwater production of Florida red tilapia could help supply the market demand for fresh, marine fish in Puerto Rico if producers can meet the demand for quality, availability and price.     

Competition between farmed and wild fish: The French sea bass and sea bream markets

ABSTRACT

Aquaculture is contributing at an increasing rate to the world seafood supply. The interaction between fisheries and aquaculture is especially important for the seafood market where supply of wild and farmed fish can affect price dynamics. We examine market interactions in the French fresh sea bass and sea bream markets. We test for long-term price parity between farmed and wild products for these two species, applying a bivariate cointegration approach to market delineation. We also conduct the Law of One Price (LOP) test between price series. Our data base consists of monthly domestic price series for fish purchased by French households from 2007 to 2012. Our empirical results show that the fresh fish markets for whole wild and farmed sea bream are partially integrated, yet those for whole wild and farmed sea bass are not integrated. The substantially higher price for wild sea bass relative to farmed sea bass suggests that consumers may be more sensitive to seafood production processes when it comes to higher-value species.     

THE RUSSIAN SEAFOOD REVOLUTION: SHIFTING CONSUMPTION TOWARDS AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

A food consumption revolution is taking place in Russia. After decades of severe constraints on food consumption options under the communist regime Russian consumers are now adopting new food products—including seafood products – at a high pace. Since Russian consumers have previously had very limited seafood consumption choices, the market can be seen as an interesting laboratory for investigating consumer responses to products that have previously not been available. Among imported seafood products are both wild and farmed species. Furthermore, Russian imports include both traditional species such as herring, and ‘new’ species such as pangasius. We analyze market integration among seafood products using Russian monthly import prices from 2002 to 2007 on several products, such as herring, salmonids and pangasius. We find that pangasius compete in the white fish segment, and is a price leader. In the salmonids market, farmed salmon trout appears to be the price leader, both in the fresh and frozen market segment.     

Constraints and possibilities for developing aquaculture

World aquaculture production in 1990 reached some 15 million tonnes, and predictions indicate that future production will reach 19.6 million tonnes by 2000, 37.5 million tonnes by 2010, and 62.4 million tonnes by 2025. Meanwhile, world fisheries production from capture will remain stable at about 100 million tonnes. Thus, all future increase in seafood supplies will have to come from aquaculture.Possibilities for development of aquaculture exist in a number of areas around the world. Technology and natural conditions determine the choice of sites and species to be produced, but current research indicates that a number of new species will be added to the present aquaculture production in the coming years. However, well-known species such as carp, tilapia, trout, salmon, turbot, halibut, cod, and sturgeon will be the most important in the immediate future. Among the crustaceans, shrimp will continue to be an important item, as will various kinds of gastropods and bivalves.Regions with a particular suitability for development of aquaculture include Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Freshwater aquaculture may also be developed on a larger scale in the former Eastern European countries, including the former Soviet Union, but here (and in Africa), political and economic constraints will slow down development for the next decade. A major constraint for development of aquaculture in Africa is the lack of infrastructure, as well as political problems, slow or deficient bureaucracies, and to some extent pollution. In Eastern Europe, development will be hindered by the lack of capital, and uncertainty about the political and economic development. Eastern Europe also has a major environmental problem, which may limit growth within this field. In Asia, space and availability of suitable sites are becoming a problem, as are pollution, diseases, and in some cases overproduction.A general constraint to global development of aquaculture may be price fluctuations, which affect the investment willingness of interested investors. This question must be seen in connection with the economics of operation. As new species are being launched, there is usually a short period of high profits, followed by a period of price reductions, and the collapse of several operators. After such turbulence, serious operators with proper management survive, and go on to operate a reasonably profitable business. The mechanism seems to be true for all new business areas, and does create a problem for sustained investor interest in aquaculture development.     

The potential impact of summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) aquaculture on regional flounder price

Abstract

Increasing consumer demand for flounder and dramatic reductions in ocean flounder harvests have raised interest in summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) aquaculture. Flounder farmers have several potential markets, including regional seafood dealers and high‐end niche (e.g., sashimi and ike‐jime) buyers. Prices paid by buyers are exogenous to typical aquacultural budgeting models, yet they are a key determinant of potential profitability. We develop a simple economic model to assess the impacts of aquaculture industry supply on prices paid by regional seafood dealers. The model is parameterized for a region with established flounder dealers and active field research in flounder production methods. We derive the price elasticity of regional seafood dealer demand for farmed flounder, and we examine the impacts of changes in production cost and ocean harvest on regional price and the level of aquacultural production that maximizes returns to the aquaculture industry.     

Fish to 2030: The Role and Opportunity for Aquaculture

Seafood sector can contribute to the global food supply in an important way, and provide an important source of animal protein. Based on observed regional trends in seafood production and consumption and using a global, partial-equilibrium, multi-market model, this study investigates what the global seafood market may look like in 2030. The model projects that the total fish supply will increase from 154 million tons in 2011 to 186 million tons in 2030, with aquaculture entirely responsible for the increase. The fastest aquaculture growth is expected for tilapia and shrimp, while the largest expansion is expected in India, Latin America and Caribbean and Southeast Asia. Fast-growing seafood demand in China and elsewhere represents a critical opportunity for global fisheries and aquaculture to improve their management and achieve sustainable seafood economy.     

Reputational damage and the Fukushima disaster: an analysis of seafood in Japan

As the levels of radioactivity in seafood have fallen back into the safe range, Fukushima fisheries are considering reopening. However, even if seafood from the Fukushima area were sufficiently safe to distribute to seafood markets, its value may be undermined because of the damage done to its reputation by the Fukushima disaster. We quantified consumers’ preferences for seafood from Fukushima and adjacent prefectures to examine the extent of the reputational damage to Fukushima seafood. We conducted a choice experiment to measure consumers’ willingness to pay for seafood from the Fukushima area. We also measured the impact of displaying ecolabels [Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Marine Eco-label Japan (MEL)] on Fukushima products. The results indicated that Fukushima products are considerably discounted compared with products displayed as domestic; even products from adjacent prefectures are substantially discounted. By contrast, consumers positively evaluated locally labeled products. We also found that demersal fish are discounted more than pelagic fish that inhabit the ocean surface off the shore of Fukushima.     

THE FUTURE OF U.S. SEAFOOD SUPPLY

The United States today imports most of the seafood it consumes. Half of these imports are from aquaculture. Domestic wild capture production is limited and U.S. aquaculture production has declined in recent years. Policy, socioeconomic, and regulatory obstacles stand in the way of expanded U.S. aquaculture production. In this article, we examine the implications of two future paths for seafood supply: an increasing reliance on imports, and a shift toward increased domestic aquaculture production. We examine global trends, likely future developments in U.S. seafood demand and supply, and implications of the path of U.S. aquaculture development for U.S. seafood supply and prices, employment, ecological footprint, and seafood supply security and safety. We conclude with recommendations for a path forward that serves the interests of the nation and the global community in the search for economically sound and sustainable ways to feed a growing population.     

Early effects of COVID‐19 on US fisheries and seafood consumption

The US seafood sector is susceptible to shocks, both because of the seasonal nature of many of its domestic fisheries and its global position as a top importer and exporter of seafood. However, many data sets that could inform science and policy during an emerging event do not exist or are only released months or years later. Here, we synthesize multiple data sources from across the seafood supply chain, including unconventional real‐time data sets, to show the relative initial responses and indicators of recovery during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We synthesized news articles from January to September 2020 that reported effects of COVID‐19 on the US seafood sector, including processor closures, shortened fishing seasons and loss of revenue. Concerning production and distribution, we assessed past and present landings and trade data and found substantial declines in fresh seafood catches (?40%), imports (?37%) and exports (?43%) relative to the previous year, while frozen seafood products were generally less affected. Google search trends and seafood market foot traffic data suggest consumer demand for seafood from restaurants dropped by upwards of 70% during lockdowns, with recovery varying by state. However, these declines were partially offset by an increase (270%) in delivery and takeout service searches. Our synthesis of open‐access data sets and media reports shows widespread, but heterogeneous, ramifications of COVID‐19 across the seafood sector, implying that policymakers should focus support on states and sub‐sectors most affected by the pandemic: fishery‐dependent communities, processors, and fisheries and aquaculture that focus on fresh products.     

Claiming seafood is ‘sustainable’ risks limiting improvements

Over the past decade, the sustainability of seafood production has improved and is cause for ocean optimism. In an attempt for recognition of ongoing efforts, many producers and food retailers now claim products are ‘sustainable’. What exactly does this mean and could we limit further improvement using this claim? Here, we discuss the sustainable/sustainability dichotomy, and the problem of communicating continual improvement in terms of grand and absolute claims – that is ‘We sell 100% sustainable product.’ We believe a statement like this risks short selling the challenges at hand and removes necessary and ongoing incentives for learning, improving and innovating. We argue the best path for producers and retailers is to demonstrate and communicate the concrete actions and achievements being made towards a more resilient and healthy food system today and for the future. This requires moving away from the current practice of calling products sustainable, and to instead work towards continually improving the sustainability of the products. Focusing on measuring the impact of our actions generates a wealth of substance and establishes a direction of travel towards seafood of greater sustainability and we believe this will help educate, inform and inspire consumers to make good choices for their own and future generations benefit. In this study, ‘seafood’ will refer to both farmed and wild seafood products, and ‘sustainability’ refers to the behavior that drives economic, environmental and ethical progress towards ensuring seafood availability ‘meet(s) the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMPTION FOR ORGANIC AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS—EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

This study investigates Greek consumers' behavior towards organic aquaculture products, identifying possible distinct consumer groups and examining possible linkages between consumer characteristics and marketing aspects of organic aquaculture. Using data from an in-person field survey, a two-step cluster analysis demonstrated different attitudes among consumers with different profiles and also identified two distinct consumer groups differentiated primarily by income: the low-potential consumers and the high-potential consumers, representing 34% and 66% of the total sample, respectively. This study provides evidence that consumers' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are key factors determining the consumers' purchasing behavior for organic aquaculture products. Thus, a market segmentation strategy is needed to allow organic aquaculture production to take advantage of the significant potential for growth in the near future.     

Environmental improvement of seafood through certification and ecolabelling: theory and analysis

The study of environmental impacts of seafood production as a result of ecolabelling and certification is a young yet rapidly growing discipline that lacks theoretical models. Pieces of the model have been suggested in the literature, and these pieces are formalized here realizing the current operating parameters of the global seafood industry. The derived pull‐threshold model assumes that if producers exceed the threshold, there is no incentive to improve while if too far below, improvement is most likely beyond technical or financial means. Thus, a single certification is only a marginal solution to the larger picture. Those producers immediately below the certification threshold are within range or ‘pull’ of the threshold to improve as a result of certification. Results from a single threshold model applied to compliance data indicated that a maximum improvement of 12.5%, achieved when the pull was the greatest and the threshold was at the lower end of the impact distribution. When impacts were continuous (e.g. escapes in aquaculture), greater improvement was observed with thresholds targeting the producers at the higher end of the impact distribution. In all cases, improvement was maximized with a triple threshold model, indicating that single threshold scenario will not drive the greatest movement towards environmental improvement throughout the industry. Innovation is potentially more important in reducing environmental impacts of seafood production and needs to be accounted for as the seafood certification or ecolabelling continues to mature.     

U.S. seafood consumption

U.S. seafood consumption has changed dramatically in recent decades and has become increasingly dominated by the consumption of a limited number of species that are primarily imported and predominantly sourced from aquaculture. In getting to this point, the United States has been, and still is, at the forefront of some of the most important trends in global seafood markets. Hence, discussing the factors influencing U.S. seafood consumption patterns is an interesting and informative endeavor and will most likely also have strong predictive power for the continued development of seafood markets in the United States. In this article, we will discuss the transitions in the U.S. seafood market, primarily focusing on the period from 1990 to the present, highlighting the main factors that facilitated this development. This article provides an overview of U.S. landings, aquaculture production, exports, and imports and also explores contributing trends in global export and import markets. This will be followed by a discussion of U.S. per capita consumption patterns and an examination of the consolidation of species consumed over time. Finally, implications for future trends in seafood consumption and production are discussed.     

Nutrition in organic aquaculture: an inquiry and a discourse

Organic aquaculture has lagged behind the agriculture sector in terms of the quantities and diversity of certified organic products because of the absence of detailed accepted standards and criteria until recently. The main challenges for organic aquaculture are to improve the coordination between production and market and to achieve an appropriate framework to drive further development. Priorities for research include organic feeds and fish nutrition, consumers’ needs, food safety, environmental concerns and trade issues. In organically cultured fish, differences in feeds and nutrition compared to conventional systems are likely to result in differences in the quality of the flesh, and this is a significant factor in consumer choice. The review covers aspects of current use of eco‐certification, formulated feeds, feed composition, aquafeed technology, sustainable alternatives to common feed ingredients, nutritional physiology and general nutritional principles and product quality in the context of the organic aquaculture. There is a future for the development of organic aquaculture but its success depends on new knowledge and technical development to meet consumers’ growing interest. The industry has to utilize the research results and update and modify the criteria and standards and thus provide high‐quality products.     

Fair trade fish: consumer support for broader seafood sustainability

Sustainable seafood initiatives began with efforts to promote and certify seafood sourced from well‐managed stocks caught with a reduced impact on the marine environment. More recently, social equity in fisheries has been the subject of increased concern with suggestions that seafood cannot be certified as sustainable if its production results in social harm, such as unfair wages or the use of forced or child labour. Together with local seafood, which has been promoted as an eco‐friendly and socially conscious alternative to globally sourced seafood, these initiatives signal a growing interest in fisheries as a social–ecological system. However, this increasingly complex landscape of environmental sustainability and social justice may be difficult for the public and seafood consumers to navigate. Here, we investigate consumer understanding of and responsiveness to a range of seafood sustainability initiatives by testing preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for seafood across the three types of sustainability: ecological sustainability, local origin and social sustainability. More than half of respondents demonstrated good understandings of both ecological sustainability and social sustainability with respect to seafood, and respondents were willing to pay more for all three types of sustainability. However, WTP for social sustainability benefits was the lowest, and consumers perceived a high degree of overlap of these benefits with those from locally sourced seafood. These results indicate that seafood certification taking a system‐wide approach has potential to succeed, but that it will need to emerge in concert with the increased public education about social problems associated with globalized fisheries.     

Marketing research paradigms for aquaculture

Abstract

A basic premise of this review is that the traditional agricultural economics marketing research paradigm is of limited value for addressing many of the key marketing issues affecting aquaculture. These issues include how to get consumers to recognize and accept new or slightly differentiated products, and how to design products that more nearly match consumer preferences. Accordingly, we stress an ‘industrial style’ market‐development approach to aquacultural marketing research that emphasizes product differentiation and market segmentation. The focus is pragmatic in that we bring into play managerial strategies (e.g. demand‐function modification and segment development) that are integral to implementing research findings. Empirical studies pertaining to seafood demand and preference articulation are selectively reviewed to illustrate concepts and to highlight research applications.