Information impact on consumers' perceptions towards aquaculture : Dismantling the myth about feeds for farmed fish

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICAquaculture products are commonplace in markets around the world. However, despite efforts to minimize the negative perceptions towards aquaculture, several misbeliefs or myths still persist, and thus globally consumers tend to value wild fish more highly than farmed fish. The lack of information has been shown to be one of the most important causes of this preference, driving buying decisions to be more emotional than rational. The aim of this study was to determine whether scientific-supported information contrasting one myth could contribute to a better perception of farmed products. To that end, consensus on a series of aquaculture-related issues among different scientists, external experts, and aquaculture societies was used to build up the scientific information. This information was provided to 300 Spanish consumers using two different communication tools (150 consumers each tool): an interactive web documentary and a written and printed document, to detect possible differences in the change of consumers' perception. Consumers were asked for their degree of agreement on a set of 14 statements before and after providing the scientific information. A variable collecting the assessment of each of the statements was calculated as the Overall-perception. Possible significant differences between the scores before and after providing the information and for the 'overall perception' were analysed separately for each communication tool as well as for the combined sample. Possible relationship between the consumers' perception with the sociodemographic factors, the consumers' knowledge and the fish consumption habits were also assessed. Results show that consumer's perception of aquaculture before the query were moderate (5.6 average in a 0 to 10 scale) but that it increased slightly but significantly and regardless of the communication tool used. Among sociodemographic factors, age and gender were the ones that most influenced consumer's perceptions, being older people those who exhibited a generally more positive opinion towards aquaculture. The effects of consumption habits and knowledge about aquaculture were also the two most explicative factors for change in perception. Importantly, the opinion of consumers with less knowledge about seafood products in general and production methods or consuming only wild fish products, improved after being exposed to the information. These results demonstrate the utility of science- and fact-based communication campaigns to improve the societal perception of aquaculture practices and products, regardless of the tool used to transmit this information

Biological patterns and ecological indicators for Mediterranean fish and crustaceans below 1,000 m: a review

19 páginas, 3 figuras, 6 tablasThe Mediterranean Sea is a relatively deep, closed sea with high rates of fisheries exploitation. In recent years fishing activity has tended to shift towards deeper depths. At the same time, the Mediterranean displays some rather special hydrographic and biogeographic conditions. The present paper reviews the present state of knowledge of the fisheries, biology, and ecology of the deep-sea fish and crustacean species in the Mediterranean dwelling below 1,000 m with potential economic interest, placing special emphasis on the western basin, for which more data are available, as a basis for future studies of the ecology, biodiversity, and effects of climate change and exploitation in this zone. This review reveals that mediterranean deep-sea fishes and crustaceans employ highly conservative ecological strategies, and hence the low fecundity and low metabolic rates in a stable environment like the deep-sea make these populations highly vulnerable. Moreover, ripe females of the main species mentioned here concentrate in the deepest portions of their distribution ranges. Deep-sea fish and crustaceans have high trophic levels and low to medium omnivory index values. The ecological indices discussed here, in combination with the limited knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems, clearly call for an approach based on the Precautionary PrincipleThe authors would like to thank the Captains and crews of R/V ‘‘García del Cid’’ (CSIC) for their technical support, and Mr. J. Rucabado and Dr. D. Lloris as the pioneers in using the otter bottom trawl as a sampling scientific method in the Mediterranean deep-sea. M. Coll has been founded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Ministerio de Ciencias e Innovación from SpainPeer reviewe

Contributions of allochthonous inputs of food to the diets of benthopelagic fish over the northwest Mediterranean slope (to 2300 m)

14 pages, 4 figures, 6 tablesThe contributions of allochthonous inputs of food (food falls, plastics and other anthropogenic remains) in the diets of large fish (6 teleosteans, 3 sharks) were analyzed for depths between 500 and 2300 m in the deep Balearic basin (western Mediterranean). The analyses were based on gut contents. The identification was based on a multi-analytic approach, comprising morphological features (including morphometric analysis) and molecular genetics (DNA barcoding method). Remains of a number of anthropogenic, inorganic materials (microplastic fibres, plastic bags and cartons) appeared regularly in the guts of deep-sea fish (e.g., in Trachyrhynchus scabrus and Mora moro), though always at low occurrence (9.1% of fish at most) and negligible weights (< 2%W of diet). In our sampling, covering an area of ca. 12 km2, large food falls contribute only a little to fish diets by weight, W, e.g., in shark diets they represented 4.5%W for Centroscymnus coelolepis and 11%W for Galeus melastomus. However, the importance of food falls (e.g., cetacean blubber and carcharhinid shark remains) was substantial locally (up to 70.8%W of C. coelolepis diet) particularly near canyons. The arrival of livestock remains (beef flesh, goat ribs and vertebrae) was shown by molecular analyses to contributed to deep-sea shark diets (ca. 5.5%W) comparably to natural food falls. These remains, which originate from human activity, may locally alter the food webs of oligotrophic environments like that of the deep Mediterranean. Food falls of both natural and anthropogenic origin were mainly found in fish collected close to canyon axes. The only cetacean fall documented in the deep Balearic Basin was also near a canyon, the carcass of a small (ca. 1.2 m) striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, collected in a haul at 1750 m off BarcelonaPeer Reviewe