The survey, which is the first ever pan-European survey of attitudes among consumers towards the fishing industry and to eating fish as part of their regular diet, revealed 71% thought the industry had a vital role to play in feeding a growing world population but 84% said governments should do more to support the sector and fishermen.
“Fishing is a heavily regulated industry and the fishermen we represent have made huge strides in recent years, not only to comply with new European regulations but secure the sustainability of fishing practices and in turn, their livelihoods,” said Kathryn Stack, managing director, Europêche.
Of the 4,000 consumers in eight major European nations that took part in the survey earlier this month, 70% said they eat fish at least once a week, partly for health and taste reasons. Spanish consumers were revealed as the most avid fans, with the majority (almost 75%) eating fish at least two to three times each week. Most consumers (84%) preferred to eat fish at home rather than in restaurants.
Despite the fishing industry contributing €71.3bn to the EU economy, only 1.7% of the EU’s 2014 budget for sustainable growth in natural resources was allocated to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, against 97.5% of funding allocated to European agriculture, according to Europêche. This equates to €1bn of funding for the fisheries sector against €57bn bolstering the agricultural sector in 2014 alone.
“There is a huge disparity between the level of support provided to the agricultural and fishing sectors and what’s important now is that governments recognise this and provide a more level playing field to assist those who frequently work in difficult and dangerous conditions to put food on our plates,” added Ms Stack.
In each of the countries surveyed – the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands - the majority (73%) of consumers said they bought fish at the supermarket rather than at a fishmongers but said the stores didn’t offer a wide enough choice.
In addition, over two thirds of consumers across Europe (68%) noted that they would like to know more about where and how their fish had been caught, and who had caught it, though new regulations introduced in December 2014 meaning that all labels must now carry the exact location and method of the catch could alleviate this.
Furthermore, the majority (54%) of consumers said the knowledge a species was sustainably caught would influence their buying decision. These concerns are addressed, as all EU fishermen meet strict EU standards on fisheries practices to ensure that fish are sustainably caught.
The survey was commissioned independently by Europêche, the body which represents 80,000 fishermen and 45,000 vessels within the EU fleet, to mark the launch of its new consumer facing information portal – iFish.
iFish is designed to address the growing consumer appetite for information on the industry, and will cover key themes such its economic and environmental impact, as well as its role in providing a healthy, sustainable food source to a growing population.
