The value of responsibly farmed fish: A hedonic price study of ASC-certified whitefish

Abstract In recent years, several studies have identified price premiums for wild seafood certified as sustainably produced. Even though more than half of seafood for human consumption originates from aquaculture, not much attention has been given to consumer preferences for sustainability certified farmed fish, and to the implied price premiums for such products. This is the first paper to use market data to investigate the presence of price premiums in association with an ecolabel for farmed seafood, namely the label of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). Using hedonic price analysis, we look at premiums related to the three most consumed farmed whitefish species in Germany: rainbow trout, pangasius, and tilapia. Our results show that there exist price premiums for ASC-certified whitefish on the German market, which vary by species. Moreover, the magnitudes of the price premiums for ASC-certified products vary by retailer and brand and are negatively correlated with their price level.