Local aquaculture production of marine finfish has potential to meet the domestic seafood demand and contribute to reduction of the United States (U.S.) seafood trade deficit. The United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, along with other research programs, has developed aquaculture production technologies for warmwater marine finfish species with potential for commercial production. To understand the marketing opportunities for the candidate species, an online survey of 818 seafood consumers in the southeastern U.S. was conducted to explore their awareness, familiarity, frequency of consumption, location of purchase, and likelihood of purchasing the species of interest. A binary logit model was specified to explore the factors that influenced consumers likelihood to purchase Atlantic cod, black sea bass, California flounder, California yellowtail, Florida pompano, redfish, red snapper, southern flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass, summer flounder, and white seabass, the 12 species for which there were at least 100 survey responses. This study focused on consumers likelihood to purchase the candidate species at grocery stores and restaurants. The results show that consumers who placed high importance on source of the fish and quality were more likely to buy various candidate species including red snapper, striped bass, Atlantic cod, southern flounder, Florida pompano, California yellowtail, black sea bass, California flounder, and white seabass. Respondents who considered price to be important were more likely to buy California flounder, redfish, red snapper, white seabass, black sea bass (at grocery stores only), and summer flounder (at grocery stores only). Frequent consumers of Atlantic cod, southern flounder, California flounder, redfish, summer flounder (at grocery stores only) and California yellowtail (at grocery stores only) were more likely to purchase these species. Frequency of consumption, seasonality in consumption, and demographic characteristics, including income, age, race, and state of residence, influenced consumers likelihood to purchase various species of interest.
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