USDA
Grant Will Fund Seafood Marketing Research in New Jersey
Study Focuses on Consumers and Producers of Live Seafood
7/14/05
(TRENTON) – The New Jersey Department of Agriculture,
in cooperation with Rutgers University and the University
of Delaware, has received a grant from the USDA to help
promote the production and consumption of locally grown
live seafood products.
The
$56,500 matching grant from the USDA’s Federal-State
Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP), will fund a survey
of consumers, producers, wholesalers and buyers in the Northeast
about consumption of live fish, shellfish and other seafood
products that will result in a central resource to facilitate
sales.
“We
are very pleased to have received this grant, as it will
help further our efforts of promoting the bounty of New
Jersey’s waters,” said Secretary of Agriculture
Charles M. Kuperus. “Seafood – both wild-harvested
and farm-raised --
is an integral part of our Garden State’s working
agricultural landscape, and the live markets are an important
component of the seafood sector, especially in the ethnic
markets.”
The
project funded by the grant will begin in September and
take about a year to complete. The NJDA will work with the
Department of Food and Resource Economics at Rutgers to
conduct a survey of people from various ethnic groups to
define the customer base for live seafood. The Department
and Rutgers also will develop and publish, in several different
languages, a directory of live markets throughout the Northeast
to make locating them easier for consumers. Finally, the
Department will work with the Sea Grant and College of Marine
Science at the University of Delaware to compile and publish
a list of both live markets and producers of live seafood
products so producers and buyers can better locate each
other.
Secretary
Kuperus pointed to other efforts by the Department to improve
the marketing of New Jersey seafood. They include:
·
Establishment of a “Jersey Seafood” brand modeled
on the highly successful “Jersey Fresh” campaign
for locally grown produce, along with a Jersey Seafood website,
www.jerseyseafood.nj.gov.
· Awarding of Aquatic Farmer Licenses to allow producers
to demonstrate definitive ownership of the organisms being
cultured and reduce the introduction of exotic pests that
could be detrimental to wild stocks and other aquatic farms
· Working with a group of seven aquaculture producers
to market bagged clams under the Jersey Seafood brand name
The
FSMIP grants were awarded to those projects that exhibited
new and innovative approaches to marketing U.S. food and
agricultural products and improve efficiency and performance
of the marketing system, USDA officials said. In all, more
than $1.3 million in money was awarded to projects in 20
states and Puerto Rico.
“These
projects are excellent examples of the benefit of investing
in new marketing opportunities for U.S. agriculture,”
said Deputy U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner.
Secretary
Kuperus noted the timing of the grant award was appropriate
because it comes as New Jersey prepares to host the North
American Agricultural Marketing Officials (NAAMO) annual
conference for the first time in that group’s 84-year
history on July 17-20 in Atlantic City.
“We
recognize in New Jersey how important innovative marketing
is to sustaining a viable agricultural industry,”
Secretary Kuperus said. “One of the sessions at the
NAAMO conference covers marketing to a diverse population,
and this FSMIP grant is a prime example of how we are working
to address these new and diverse marketing opportunities.”
For
more information on the live seafood project, contact the
NJDA’s Fish and Seafood Program at (609) 984-2502
or via e-mail at joseph.myers@ag.state.nj.us
Additional
information:
The
Northeast has a great diversity of people from all parts
of the world. Many of the live seafood markets in the region
are typically Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese food markets
in urban areas, typically with a high Asian population.
These consumers perceive value in buying fish and shellfish
live, and are willing to pay a premium for the opportunity
to pick out, while it is still swimming, the exact fish
they want to take home for dinner that night.
In
addition to the Far East, people from other cultures of
Eastern European, Middle Eastern, Latin American and African
descent also may be interested in buying their fish live.
There may be some cultural barriers, and everyone who may
be interested in buying live fish may not be aware of all
of the places where they can do so.
Selling
fish and shellfish live is one of the simplest ways for
small-scale aquaculture producers and fishermen to market
seafood products. Selling and buying a live product is nothing
new to shellfish, but fish are mostly sold processed, so
in the whole picture of seafood sales, live fish sales are
a niche opportunity. The idea is not to make everyone buy
live fish, the idea is to facilitate these existing marketing
channels. The investment, regulatory compliance, and large
volume of raw product needed to make processing fish profitable
is in many cases not feasible for smaller producers. The
equipment needed to haul fish live is much less expensive.
Producers can also contract with live haulers. There is
a large body of technical literature on how to provide the
right conditions for the fish during transport as to maximize
survival. The producer gets a premium price for delivered
live fish over and above what he/she would get for a fresh,
iced product on-the-round.
This
project really has the potential to benefit everyone involved
in live fish and shellfish sales: producer to consumer.
Customers
will have better awareness of where they can buy the products
they want. Everyone knows there is a strong relationship
between food and culture, and people place a high importance
on the two. We hope that people will be able to locate products
that better enable one to enjoy these aspects. This project
should also benefit the bottom line of the owners and operators
of these ethnic markets. Greater awareness means more customers
visiting these supermarkets will not only buy more live
seafood, but other goods that are sold in the supermarket.
Aquaculture producers and fishermen will hopefully be able
to be more profitable. Greater demand for live seafood will
mean more sales. Not only will producers better be able
to locate markets that may be more profitable for them,
market owners will be able to locate a supplier for a particular
species of fish and shellfish they were previously unable
to locate.
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