US consumers see aquaculture negatively

ALMOST half of American seafood consumers who took part in a survey had a negative opinion of farmed fish, according to the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

While consumers typically bought both farmed and wild-caught seafood, the perceptions of aquaculture were more negative than wildcaught among 47 per cent of respondents in the survey of 454 consumers, Undercurrent News reported.

Matt Brooker, senior category manager of the Fishin’ Company, which conducted the survey, said it sought the opinions of US consumers from a variety of regions, ages and income levels who purchased seafood regularly.

He told delegates at the recent Global Outlook on Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference in Vancouver, Canada, that the survey focused on four categories: purchasing priorities, sustainability, country of origin and farmed versus wild-caught fish.

Of eight different purchasing decision-making factors, price per pound was seen as important by 81 per cent of respondents, whereas 45 per cent of consumers said that country of origin was seen as an important factor.

With regard to how they defined ‘sustainable’ in the context of purchasing seafood, 70 per cent of those surveyed said the term referred to ‘environmental responsibility’.