Do 'local' markets offer new opportunities to Australian seafood producers?

The Australian fishing industry is currently seeking ways to improve its economic viability in the face of external pressures such as competition from cheaper imports and loss of export markets in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The promotion of “local” seafood appears successful elsewhere and may offer opportunities for fishers to exploit a previously underutilized market. The aim of this study is to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for the attribute “local” against other key attributes of sustainability and freshness when purchasing fish. This study uses a choice experiment based on Australian wild caught Barramundi to determine the importance of these attributes to Queensland seafood consumers. The results of the mixed multinomial logit model indicate that freshness attracts the highest WTP, followed by sustainability and then origin. With respect to the origin attribute, consumers would be willing to pay more for fish identified as locally produced than fish identified more broadly (i.e., State or Australian label). However, this higher willingness to pay is limited to residents from regional coastal areas (i.e., where the produce is caught), with consumers from main metropolitan areas more indifferent to product origin. Nevertheless, the development of a “local” label may also act as a proxy indicator of freshness and sustainability, and provide benefits to both fishers and consumers.