Consumers’ knowledge and information needs on organic aquaculture

Organic aquaculture is a reasonably new market segment and so far little is known about consumers’ knowledge and perception of organic aquaculture. Therefore the present article explores perceptions and knowledge of German consumers of organic aquaculture and related labels by using focus groups. One central result is that consumers were mainly unfamiliar with aquaculture in general. However, they had some clear expectations regarding sustainable and specifically organic aquaculture. The use of drugs should be minimized; production systems should be close to nature and respect fish welfare. Obviously, test persons deduced their understanding of aquaculture from theirs of terrestrial animal husbandry. The study also shows consumers’ low awareness of the existing eco-labels on the German market.