Marketing Opportunities in the Shellfish Industry

Based on Research on Consumers and Restaurants

Commissioned by: S.E.M.A.C.
Project Director: Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D.
Conducted by: Ava Lescault, Stephanie O’Brien

Around the world, people are eating more seafood than ever before. Demand is increasing due to growing populations, and because health-conscious consumers are choosing seafood more often. To help supply the global demand for seafood, the aquaculture industry is raising fish and oysters like farmers raise cattle and chicken. Farmed seafood makes up about a third of the seafood consumed in the US (Fulmer, 2002). Aquaculture’s meteoric growth in the last decade has been invisible to most consumers because supermarkets rarely label farmed seafood and chefs are reluctant to add the word “farmed” to their chalkboard menus fearing consumers will balk. Ironically, if Americans keep consuming seafood at the current rate - 15 pounds per person per year- by the year 2025 the US will need an additional 1 billion pounds of farmed production to meet demand. The wild supply will simply be inadequate (Fulmer, 2002).

Many of the clams on the U.S. market are farm-raised. These shellfish filter tiny plankton out of the water for their food, so they need no supplemental feeding. Shellfish can even improve water quality as they clear the water of excess plankton. Shellfish aquaculture, in which oysters and clams are grown like an underwater crop is taking hold of the Massachusetts coast. About 1,200 acres are now under cultivation, double the acreage just five years ago (Higgins, 2001).

The mission of the SouthEastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Center is to foster the sustainable development of a private/public aquaculture industry within the Southeastern region and throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by way of a coordinated effort including education, research, technical and economic assistance, best management practices, and demonstration projects.

Downloads

• Marketing Opportunities in the Shellfish Industry Based on Perceptions, Preferences, and Practices of Consumers in New England (PDF)
• Marketing Opportunities for Cape Cod Hard Clam Producers Based on Purchase and Serving Practices of Restaurants (PDF)

Picture courtesy of British Columbia Department of Agriculture