Creating markets for under-utilised fish species: Consumer valuation of a co-created fish finger

It is common practice to discarded under-utilised fish species that are caught as bycatch because of their low market value. In this paper, we examine whether locally co-created and produced fish fingers, made from locally sourced under-utilised fish species are valued by consumers by employing a discrete choice experiment (DCE). A novel feature of this study is that we consider three versions of the fish finger, sourced from three UK ports: Plymouth, Lowestoft and Grimsby. Our DCE employs a novel set of attributes to capture the unique characteristics of product design and development of the fish finger. Results reveal that all attributes are positively valued, with the largest for fish that are sustainably caught. We also find that distance to the product locality does not materially affected consumer valuation. Location comparisons indicate limited differences overall for the three versions of the fish finger. These results indicate that sustainability information is a primary driver of demand for processed seafood using species with historically low market uptake, while local cues add value without substituting for sustainability. Our findings can help inform efforts to reduce discarding of under-utilised fish species that remains a significant issue in many fisheries.