SUSTAINING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN MIDDLE EAST AQUACULTURE SECURED BY TRACEABILITY SYSTEMS

Year 2017, , 44 - 50, 02.01.2017

Mustafa Tolga Tolon

https://doi.org/10.3153/JAEFR17006

Abstract

In
recent years, aquaculture is the fastest growing protein supply for consumers
in the Middle East countries. The aquaculture production in the region
increased by 111% from 837 247 to 1 768 917 tons between 2005 and 2014. Egypt,
Iran and Turkey are the leading countries in aquaculture production but Saudi
Arabia, Oman and United Arab Emirates have vast investment plans for future
aquaculture projects as the others in the region. Middle East aquaculture still
need to grow by nearly 20% to match the regional demand for seafood which is
average 12,55 kg fish per capita. This huge necessity for growth raises doubts
in regional consumers on the sustainability of aquaculture production.

Sustainable
aquaculture systems are being accepted as environmental friendly, profitable,
productive and social. But the sustainability is not a measurable entity itself
and its analysis relies on indirect criteria or indicators. Traceability is an
important indicator that sustains consumer confidence on aquaculture products.

There’s an increasing trend on the market for traceability of capture
and aquaculture products. Therefore, many countries are developing various
solutions for monitoring the aquaculture market. Turkey is one of these countries
who's developing computer-based monitoring systems for fisheries and
aquaculture production.

In
this study, acceptance, progress, and the difficulties in transition to new
monitoring system and the prospective contribution of traceability systems on
consumer confidence have been investigated in example of Turkey. 

Keywords

Sustainable aquaculture, Traceability, Middle East, Consumer confidence, Turkey

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