Consumer and Citizen Knowledge, Practice, Attitudes
Project Description
Consumer demand for products is often the driving force behind innovation; however, lack of consumer demand or product boycotts may force closure of existing markets. Maine seafood currently enjoys a widespread consumer base. The knowledge, preferences and attitudes of consumers towards Maine seafood products produced by aquaculture is currently unknown. Further, Maine’s coastal waterfronts face increasing usage pressure. These coastal resources may be used for commercial fishing access, generation of renewable energy, siting of luxury homes or aquaculture farms. Public support for land/water use and emerging businesses may be key to successful management of Maine’s coast. The research being conducted will provide information to fill these crucial knowledge gaps.
First, this research evaluates the economic potential of emerging aquaculture production efforts through understanding consumer acceptance, and willingness to pay for these products, including an understanding of the type of information used by consumers to make their decisions. Optimal methods of communicating with citizens about opportunities for information on seafood (labeling) including sources of information are being examined.
Second, citizens of coastal areas and the broader state may have preferences for how coastal and ocean areas are used for competing or complementary uses. Project personnel examine the choices citizens may make about ocean areas.
Finally, collaboration with fellow researchers is yielding appropriate metrics, variables, and indicators to include in the SES Framework. Researchers are undertaking multiple approaches to achieve these objectives, including consumer experiments, consumer and citizen focus groups, and citizen and consumer surveys.
Results and Accomplishments
Consumers continue to have a preference for seafood products labeled as ‘wild-harvested’ over those that are produced by aquaculture. However, the work focused on shellfish and seaweed which were understudied products. The price premium consumers were willing to pay for wild-harvest shellfish products was far lower than the premiums consumers were willing to pay for wild-harvest fin fish. Certain species (ex: oyster) had over 50% of consumers unwilling to pay any price premium for wild-harvest – indicating that aquaculture products may be preferred, or considered a direct substitute.
Research suggests consumers are willing to pay a price premium for products that are produced in their home state and are labeled with a certification of either sustainable harvest techniques or organic. This work has been of particular interest to the industry, as evidence by recent interviews in trade journals.
Preliminary investigations indicate that providing consumers with information about the economic contribution of the aquaculture industry in the U.S. decreases the aversion to aquaculture products. Personnel embedded an experiment within the consumer survey to investigate the impact of positive economic framing and intend to embed a similar experiment within the Maine citizen survey. Personnel are working to further investigate the above findings by looking at specific groups of consumers and how they react to these seafood labels and economic information.
In the analysis of the 2017 U.S. citizen data set researchers found that U.S. consumers generally lack knowledge of aquaculture production, and are uncertain about the benefits and concerns regarding this new food technology. The results from this report were picked up by the media and widely reported.
Summary of Data Being Collected
| Data | Type | Quantity | Location |
| Marine consumer preference data (in person experiments) | Quantitative | 100 | Orono, Maine |
| National consumer preference data (via MTurk experiments) | Quantitative | 500+ | Online consumers throughout the U.S. |
| Marine citizen preference data (mail survey) | Quantitative | Initial sample size of 3,000 | Maine |
| Northeast citizen preference data (mail survey) | Quantitative | Initial sample size of 3,000 | Northeastern United States |
| Focus groups with Maine and Massachusetts consumers | Qualitative | 3 focus groups, 10 participants per group | Bangor, Maine; Portland, Maine; and Woburn, Massachusetts |