Environmental Attributes of Wild versus Farmed Tuna: Beliefs, Knowledge and Purchasing Choices of Italian Consumers of Canned Tuna

Abstract

The study investigates the perception of the environmental sustainability of wild-caught versus farm-raised tuna production among a sample of Italian consumers. Awareness, concern, knowledge and beliefs related to the environmental impacts of wild and farmed tuna, and the attention given to environmental attributes when purchasing canned tuna, are tested for significance based on the socio-demographic characteristics of individuals. The results show that respondents are aware and concerned about the environmental challenges in fish production, but more than half of the sample has no or little knowledge of the environmental sustainability of both wild and farmed sources of tuna production. They indicate impacts in terms of by-catch, marine ecosystems and species reproduction for the wild source; for the farmed source, environmental issues related to the feeding and risk of the virus are reported. Most respondents believe that the wild fish source has a greater environmental impact than the farmed tuna production. Plastic contamination, separate waste collection and air emissions are other environmental challenges respondents mostly consider. Finally, minimal attention is paid to environmental attributes when purchasing canned tuna, and the production method of the fish is ignored.