Consumer Preference of Seafood from Fukushima and Adjacent Areas

Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 11-15, 2016. Compiled by Stefani J. Evers and Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2016.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.In order for the fisheries to recover from the Fukushima Disaster, we investigated that how much the Japanese consumers are willing to pay (WTP) for seafood caught in Fukushima and the adjacent regions. Since market data of Fukushima seafood are not available, we conducted hypothetical survey (conjoint analysis) to measure consumers’ WTP for Fukushima products as well as non-Fukushima products caught in the same region as Fukushima products. We also measure the impact when ecolabels (MSC and MEL Japan) were applied to those products. The result showed that Fukushima products were depreciated more than adjacent regions’ products, and that local brands were preferable even they were caught in Fukushima, but it was limited when “Fukushima” label did not appear on the products