Ocean Acidification, Consumers’ Preferences, and Market Adaptation Strategies in the Mussel Aquaculture Industry
Date
2019
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Article
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27 p.
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Abstract
Ocean acidification (OA) is one of the largest emerging and significant environmental threats for the aquaculture industry, jeopardizing its role as an alternative for supporting food security. Moreover, market conditions, characterized by price volatility and low value-added products, could exacerbate the industry’s vulnerability to OA. We use a literature review on the biological consequences of OA over marine commercial species attributes to inform the empirical assessment of consumers’ preferences for those attributes affected by OA, and consumers’ responses to a set of market adaptation strategies suggested by the industry. We found that OA will have a negative impact on consumers’ welfare due to the effects on commercial attributes of aquaculture products. However, the main concerns for the industry are the market conditions. Thus, the industry’s current adaptation strategies are focused on increasing their market share by offering new product assortments (with more value-added), regardless of the effect of OA on consumers’ welfare. Despite this fact, the industry’s strategies could eventually contribute to cope with OA since some specific segments of the market are willing to pay for new product assortments. This new market composition highlights the role of public institutions’ reputation in issues related to food safety.
Description
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Citation
Ecological Economics, 2019 Volume 158, Pages 42-50
Keywords
Ocean acidification, Economic impacts, Aquaculture, Choice experiment, Industry adaptation strategies, Consumers' welfare.