The Demand for Seafood Eco-Labels in France

Abstract

International audienceThe French fishing industry has a long history and its seafood market a wide variety of products. Despite the worldwide growth in ecolabelling schemes over the past decade, the French industry has only very recently shown an interest in such schemes. Growing consumer and retailer awareness of environmental issues in France has changed the situation and it is now of interest to look at the demand for seafood ecolabelling in relation to the public perception of commercial fishing. We analyse, using an ordered Probit model, the factors influencing consumer demand for seafood ecolabelling on the basis of a French survey carried out on more than 1000 consumers. Our results show a significant relationship between the acceptability of ecolabelling and certain purchase criteria. The production process characteristics in (origin, wild vs. farmed, level of natural stocks) impact more strongly on the demand for ecolabelling than product attributes (form, visual appeal, freshness). Consumers are also influenced more by regulation than by information, inaccurate or otherwise, they may have about the fishing industry. Finally, our analysis confirms a higher demand for ecolabelling from young, educated consumers, particularly those living in non-coastal areas

Eco-Labeled Seafood: Determinants for (Blue) Green Consumption

“…The lack of relationship between gender or level of education and pro-environmental behavior is in line with earlier research showing limited effects of demographic factors [71]. However, it contrasts with work showing that female and well-educated consumers are more prone to buy eco-labeled seafood alternatives than are other people [12,13,72].…”

“…The majority of studies have focused on capture fisheries and only a few on farmed seafood [6]. Earlier work has either: (a) applied an experimental approach using contingent valuation to estimate consumers' willingness to pay for eco-labeled seafood [7][8][9][10]; (b) examined consumers' attitudes towards eco-labeling of seafood [11][12][13]; (c) more generally explored the perceived importance of sustainability and ethics related to seafood [14,15]; or (d) used market data to investigate whether there is a price premium for eco-certified seafood [16,17]. While this work has substantially increased our understanding of what factors predict willingness to purchase sustainable seafood, to our knowledge, no study has yet investigated how consumers' self-reported purchasing behavior of eco-labeled seafood is correlated with environmental knowledge and other internal factors expected to predict pro-environmental consumption.…”

Consumer Acceptance of Eco-Labeled Fish: A Mexican Case Study

“…Therefore, the social desirability bias may be limited. Considering the survey specificities and approaches used, Mexican consumers' acceptance of eco-labeled fish as a costlier option was comparable to results of U.S. surveys [6,7], some European countries [11,13,33] and some Asian nations [9,34]. However, most surveys were conducted in countries where MSC-labeled products are offered in the marketplace.…”

“…The survey exposes that people would respond positively to the idea of purchasing eco-labeled fish, but it does not report what respondents would do in reality when exercising their purchasing power in the supermarket. The following considerations should be taken into account: (1) eco-labeling may not represent the most desirable aspects of seafood in purchase decision-making, regarding factors, such as taste, price, brand and market promotions [12]; (2) only specific sectors of consumers are likely to choose eco-labeled fish ( [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]33,34], this study); (3) consumers may be less likely to demand eco-labeled products when they have to consider non-economic criteria, such as spending time or effort [45,52]. Even though some studies reported price as a significant factor affecting the purchase decision of eco-labeled products, there is evidence of consumers agreeing to pay higher prices for eco-friendly options [10,11,13].…”

A future for marine fisheries in Europe (Manifesto of the Association Française d’Halieumétrie)

“…One can question its short-term financial advantages as a factor of product differentiation, but not the fact that they interest retailers, environmental NGOs and consumers. Consequently, ecolabels can create useful incentives for responsible management (Salladarré et al, 2010).…”