Aquaculture America 2021

August 11 - 14, 2021

San Antonio, Texas

CAN ECOLABEL CERTIFICATION FOR RESTAURANTS INFLUENCE CONSUMER CHOICES AWAY FROM HOME?

Yingkai Fang , Frank Asche , Zhifeng Gao
fangy@uapb.edu
 

With increasing concerns over the environmental impacts of the production process for seafood, many consumers are willing to pay premiums for ecolabels to support s ustainable fisheries. Most studies of consumer preferences for ecolabels are conducted in the retail setting with limited attention given to sustainable seafood consumption away from home. However, seafood consumption away from home at restaurants takes a significant share in the overall seafood consumption market. Using a national online survey, this paper investigates consumer preferences and willingness to pay for  eco-labeled  seafood restaurants. The results show there is a positive WTP for  eco-labeled  seafood restaurants, indicating that consumer preferences for seafood ecolabels seem to be consistent over  the  consumption settings. Age, education, race, preference  for eco-label certification, preference  for the  rating of restaurants, preference for the restaurant type, and knowledge  of ecolabels are  variables significantly affect the amount of WTP for eco-labeled seafood restaurants . The results of this study provide deep insight into the ways to  further foster the sustainable seafood movement by enforcing the importance of restaurants as a significant role in the supply market.

Key words: Ecolabels; restaurants; sustainable seafood