The Economics of Ecolabelling - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 45

respondent was then asked to choose one product from among four hypothetical
products, where the attributes of the product varied according to product form,
certification, certifier, origin, production method, price and brand. Each of these
attributes was more specifically identified. For example, product form could vary
between fresh and chilled cod fillets, fresh and chilled salmon steaks, canned tuna,
frozen fish fingers, smoked haddock fillets and frozen prawns. Certification was
specifically certification for sustainability, certification for quality, or was uncer-
tified. The certifier could be either governmental or non-governmental. The fish
could be UK in origin, foreign, or it could be unstated. The product could be either
farmed or wild. The prices were specified in GBP (£) and ranged from low to very
high, depending upon the product. Finally, the brand was specified to be either a
shop's brand or a manufacturer's brand.
The model in this case differs from those of previous studies discussed above -
it is not testing 'what influences choice of ecolabelled seafood' but rather 'what
influences choice of seafood'? The results indicate that sustainability certification
has a positive and significant influence on seafood product choice when all seafood
products are pooled together. When species are taken individually, results are even
more interesting. Certification of sustainability increases the probability that a con-
sumer chooses a cod fillet by 6.61%, a can of tuna by 6.32% and a salmon steak by
5.17%. Similarly, such certification increases the probability of choosing prawns
by 4.31% and haddock by 3.46%. These effects were found to be larger than the
effects of certification of quality.
Johnston and Roheim (2006) investigated if US consumers will switch away
from their favourite species if it is not ecolabelled to a less-favoured but ecola-
belled species, given varying price levels. A survey was mailed to 1500 households
in Connecticut with a response rate of 31%. Respondents were asked to choose be-
tween ecolabelled and non-ecolabelled fresh swordfish, flounder, salmon and cod at
varying prices and where the certification indicated the fish had come from a fishery
that was guaranteed to be not overfished. Particular attention was paid to whether
or not these species were the favourite species of the respondent and whether or
not the respondent believed these species to be currently overfished. Twenty-five
percent of respondents ranked salmon as their favourite fish to eat, 10.1% ranked
swordfish highest, 6% ranked cod highest and 4.4% ranked flounder highest. Over
50% of respondents were unsure if any of these four species were overfished, while
21% indicated swordfish were severely overfished, 17% responded that Atlantic
cod were severely overfished, 12% noted Pacific salmon were severely overfished
and 9% indicated Atlantic flounder were severely overfished.
The results indicate that consumers are not willing to sacrifice their most-favoured
(by taste) seafood species in order to obtain a less-favoured species bearing a 'no
overfishing' ecolabel. Results are relative to the specific case study, species consid-
ered and the sampled population, but if the results hold more broadly, the findings
of this work represent a potential challenge in promoting sustainable fisheries or
aquaculture if a broad set of species are not certified.