Sustainability indicators for sustainably-farmed fish in Bangladesh

Abstract

To be sustainable, farmed fish should be environmentally suitable, biologically ideal, socially acceptable and economically viable. As these sustainability indicators (SIs) strongly influence consumers’ fish purchase intent, farms should report them as a balanced source of sustainability information. However, in the literature, little attention has been paid to biological indicators in assessing aquaculture sustainability, nor to the extent of the SIs. Furthermore, the assessed SIs have not been examined by consumers. Therefore, this study measures consumers’ perceived value of these. Consumers’ sustainability knowledge and attitude towards farm-raised fish are also taken into account. Multinomial logit and basic latent class logit models are employed, together with a direct survey of households in Bangladesh. The results demonstrate that a low level of water use and appropriate feeding in the production process (e.g., environmental and biological indicators) of farmed fish increase consumers’ utility and that they are willing to pay a price premium for these attributes. Consumers look for the ‘safety label’, which indicates intermediately, averagely, and fairly sustainable farmed fish. Initially, consumers prefer averagely sustainable fish, but when they eat a high amount of farmed fish in their total fish consumption, they are more likely to prefer fairly sustainable ones, which are high sustainable. Therefore, the study results indicate that produced fish should be marketed with environmental and biological sustainability indicators, including food safety labels. Additionally, a close monitoring system will increase social acceptability, leading to sustainable fish farming and consumption.