World focus
Aquaculture survey reveals contradictions in consumer outlook
North America
THAT the United States will become an increasingly valuable growth market for Norwegian and Scottish salmon producers over the next couple of years is almost a given. Nordic investment in new land based farms, particularly along the east coast, is running into billions of pounds, while any product bearing the blue and white Saltire symbol is generally a sure fire hit with US consumers.
It was one of the reasons that Bakkafrost of the Faroe Islands paid more than half a billion pounds last September for the Scottish Salmon Company.
The US is probably the world’s most valuable market for quality seafood, but despite many health conscious Americans wanting to eat less meat, consumption is not growing as fast as it should be.
And home based aquaculture still only accounts for slightly more than one per cent of global production.
Annual consumption only averages around 15lb a head, far less than what people in many European countries eat and certainly a lot less than Asian countries. This figure, says the Global Aquaculture Alliance, is extremely low for such a prosperous country.
But what of an often fickle American public- what do they think about fish farming?
A recent survey into consumer attitudes towards aquaculture by Changing Tastes, a value driven consultancy which works closely with high quality US food companies, has thrown up some interesting, and occasionally contradictory, views.
It found 44 per cent of US consumers thought catching fish in the wild was better for the environment, against just 25 per cent who say farming fish in the sea and 18 per cent who believe land based farming had a less harmful impact.
However, more than half – 55 per cent – said fish produced by mariculture, by which they mean offshore farming, was cleaner than other types of fish farming.
Changing Tastes said: ‘Our research into the attitudes of US consumers and operators — the business executives who make purchasing, menu and merchandising decisions about what to offer consumers — shows that new aquaculture technologies, such as mariculture production out in the open ocean, can play a key role in growing the market for fish and seafood.
‘Also, while the conventional wisdom is that Americans prefer wild fish and seafood, we scratched below the surface and found that is not entirely true.
‘Both consumers and operators underestimate the amount of farmed fish and seafood we already eat, and also believe a substantial share is farmed out in the open ocean.
‘Over half of consumers and operators believe that aquaculture produces less than half the fish and seafood we eat.
‘Over a third believe that a substantial share is farmed in deep ocean waters away from the shore.’
Changing Tastes found that both consumers and operators have some concerns with current practices affecting pollution and water quality, followed by the use of antibiotics and pesticides.
Its analysis continued: ‘Both consumers and operators favour wild caught fish because they believe it has better flavour, quality, texture and is clean, or free of antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals.
‘Consumers are also likely to believe wild fish and seafood is more nutritious. For operators, price is the top reason they prefer farmed products. In all of these areas, aquaculture has the ability to compete and even offer a better product.
‘This all points to aquaculture as both a competitive and attractive source of fish and seafood. Consumers want to eat more fish and seafood. Despite common beliefs, they have
yet to establish a preference and also are very receptive to farmed fish and seafood if their concerns are met.’
The consultancy believes mariculture, along with other ‘clean’ production methods, can play a key role in growing the market for fish and seafood in the United States.
And, while consumers and operators or businesses may underestimate the role of aquaculture in producing fish and seafood, a substantial number of them have already accepted open ocean farming and consider it to be an established and superior way to farm fish and seafood.
The report concludes: ‘Again, the common belief is that Americans prefer wild fish and seafood. On the surface, that’s not wrong.
‘But, when we look a bit closer at individual types of fish and seafood, we find something very different. For many varieties, a larger share of consumers either have no preferences or prefer farmed fish and seafood.’
The study concludes: ‘As an increasing number of Americans shift to eating more fish and seafood and less meat, the share of consumers with no established preference increases.’
“While the conventional wisdom is that Americans prefer wild fish and seafood, we scratched below the surface and found that is not entirely true”