Environmental Attributes of Wild versus Farmed Tuna: Beliefs, Knowledge and Purchasing Choices of Italian Consumers of Canned Tuna

Abstract

The study investigates the perception of the environmental sustainability of wild-caught versus farm-raised tuna production among a sample of Italian consumers. Awareness, concern, knowledge and beliefs related to the environmental impacts of wild and farmed tuna, and the attention given to environmental attributes when purchasing canned tuna, are tested for significance based on the socio-demographic characteristics of individuals. The results show that respondents are aware and concerned about the environmental challenges in fish production, but more than half of the sample has no or little knowledge of the environmental sustainability of both wild and farmed sources of tuna production. They indicate impacts in terms of by-catch, marine ecosystems and species reproduction for the wild source; for the farmed source, environmental issues related to the feeding and risk of the virus are reported. Most respondents believe that the wild fish source has a greater environmental impact than the farmed tuna production. Plastic contamination, separate waste collection and air emissions are other environmental challenges respondents mostly consider. Finally, minimal attention is paid to environmental attributes when purchasing canned tuna, and the production method of the fish is ignored.

The Sustainability of Seafood Products in the Opinions of Italian Consumers of Generation Z

“…It has been shown that preferences for products with environmental sustainability labels increase when consumers have adequate knowledge of what the labels mean [53]. As regards marine environmental consciousness and concern, recent studies have shown that Italians are very aware and concerned about marine plastic pollution, its impacts, and solutions [54], as well as about the sustainability challenges related to seafood consumption [20,55].…”

Factors Influencing Consumption Intention of Insect-Fed Fish among Italian Respondents

“…Moreover, in EU-27, Italy ranked first in household nominal expenditure on fishery and aquaculture products in 2021 and experienced the most significant expenditure increase between 2020 and 2021 (7% equal to more than EUR 880 million) [111]. In such circumstances, (i) the sustainability of seafood production and consumption is an important global issue, (ii) fish stocks in the Mediterranean are constantly decreasing and the amount of fish caught cannot increase [112], and (iii) increasing seafood consumption and production poses a number of environmental challenges that require adequate measures to meet them [113]. Investigating what levels can be used to promote environmentally sustainable aquaculture appears to be an important field of research, with many theoretical and practical implications.…”