Valuing the Willingness‐to‐Pay for Sustainable Seafood: Integrated Multitrophic versus Closed Containment Aquaculture

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
• Main Authors: Yip, Winnie, Knowler, Duncan, Haider, Wolfgang, Trenholm, Ryan
• Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Imta; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cjag.12102; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fcjag.12102; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cjag.12102

Awareness of the environmental problems associated with conventional finfish aquaculture has stimulated interest in more sustainable production methods. For example, integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) combines the culturing of fish and extractive aquaculture species at one site to simulate a balanced natural system. In contrast, closed containment aquaculture (CCA) separates farming from the natural marine environment using closed water tanks on land or in water. We explore consumer preferences for salmon produced with IMTA or CCA rather than conventional technology and pose two questions: how aware of IMTA and CCA are salmon consumers on the U.S. West Coast and what are they willing to pay for salmon produced with these methods? Using a discrete choice experiment, we estimate marginal willingness‐to‐pay of 39.0% and 15.7% for IMTA and CCA, respectively, as a premium added to the price of conventionally farmed Atlantic salmon. Results using latent class analysis show that consumers with a strong preference for wild salmon have high marginal values for farmed salmon produced with IMTA or CCA, but the average consumer from this group would be unlikely to purchase it. Overall, 44.3% and 16.2% of the respondents preferred IMTA or CCA to conventional salmon farming, respectively, and IMTA was preferred to CCA when respondents were asked to choose one. La sensibilisation aux problèmes environnementaux liés à l’élevage de poissons classique suscite un intérêt pour des méthodes de production plus durables. Par exemple, l'aquaculture multitrophique intégrée (AMTI) combine l’élevage de poissons et d'espèces d'extraction sur un même site afin d'imiter un écosystème naturel équilibré. En revanche, l'aquaculture en parc clos (APC) consiste en un élevage hors du milieu marin naturel à l'aide de réservoirs étanches installés sur le sol ou dans l'eau. Dans la présente étude, nous avons analysé les préférences des consommateurs pour le saumon issu de l'AMTI ou de l'APC et celui issu de l’élevage classique. Nous nous ...