May 16, 2023 — Now open until June 2023, a NOAA Fisheries survey on national seafood marketing practices aims to fill a gap in our understanding of the domestic seafood market in the U.S.
A national survey on direct marketing practices among U.S. seafood harvesters, developed by the University of Maine, Agricultural Marketing Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and National Marine Fisheries Service, was born from a simple question: “How do fishermen market their catch?” National Fisherman first mentioned the survey project, which is funded by NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Sustainable Fisheries and the USDA, in July 2022.
Farmers are used to similar surveys, which have been common since 2015, when the USDA began monitoring direct marketing practices by farmers through the Local Food Marketing Practices Survey. Data from these surveys are used to estimate the scale of direct marketing practices. Although they are important to define future strategies, and so are a well established practice in the agricultural sector, they do not exist in the seafood sector.