Consumer preference, willingness to pay, and market price of capture and culture fish: Do their attributes matter?

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of the attributes of capture and culture fishes on consumer preferences, willingness to pay and market price. A total of 138 consumers for capture and culture fishes were selected under this study. Likert scale was employed to understand the consumer perceptions about culture and capture fishes. The logistic regression model was employed to estimate the factors influencing consumer preferences and willingness to pay while the Hedonic Pricing Model was used to estimate the determinants of the market price. Quality, safety, reliability and expensiveness of the capture fish were much higher than those of the culture fish while the availability and control of the capture fish were much lower than those of the culture fish. Consumers preferred the capture fish for consumption due to its freshness and average price whereas the culture fish was chosen for their bigger size. The probability of the consumer willingness to pay more for the capture fish was increased with the increase of average price, firmness in the body and household family size. On the other side, probability of willingness to pay more for capture fish reduced when the size of fish was very large. The market price of the capture and culture fishes were higher as they had red gill, shiny eyes, firmness in the body and bigger body sizes. In addition, market price was decreased as the swollenness in the belly of the fishes increased. Therefore, government policy-makers and stakeholders may introduce new technology like net and cage culturing for fishes in rivers and canals to increase the productivity, safety, availability, and reliability.