Research area 5: Consumption and marketing

Researcher in charge: Lena Mossberg
Challenges:
The negative environmental impacts frequently caused by unsustainable finfish culturing practices have led to a collective stigmatization of the aquaculture industry. A lack of consumer awareness of the nutritional benefits of seafood in combination with a perception that farmed products are less trustworthy in regard to food safety, health, sustainability and animal welfare than wild-caught products presents a threat to the possible expansion of local and global mariculture.

Objectives and expected outcomes:
• To identify factors that can elucidate why some aquaculture industries succeed while others fail, as well as illuminating underlying factors influencing buying behavior and consumption patterns in regard to the selected mariculture products.
• To increase consumer awareness and knowledge of benefits of mariculture products through knowledge-based information in order to change consumer consumption patterns.
• To develop mariculture prototypes for selected markets together with various stakeholders.
• To establish a cluster of organizations for upscaling prototypes for commercialization in target markets.
• To develop marketing communication strategies for at least two novel, sustainable and profitable mariculture products ready to be launched in target markets.