Ruiz-Chico José, Biedma-Ferrer José M, Peña-Sánchez Antonio R, Jiménez-García Mercedes
INDESS (University Institute for Sustainable Social Development), University of Cadiz, 11406 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
Department of General Economy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication, University of Cadiz, Avda. de la Universidad, 4-11406 Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz), Spain.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Sep 11;17(18):6628. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17186628.
Aquaculture is a technique to produce food that is under debate, due to its possible consequences for altering the economy, traditional fishing included, or the environment, even with doubts about the health of consumers. This document studies its social acceptance from the point of view of carrying capacity. This term is defined as the level at which this activity begins to be disproportionate and poses important disadvantages for society. In this context, we conducted 803 surveys in six coastal provinces in Spain. The results show that the acceptance of these products is good, implying that aquaculture is far from reaching its saturation point in society. Additionally, the respondents gave a higher priority to socio-economic objectives than to environmental ones. We can conclude that the further development of this sector is advisable in these provinces. The general perception of aquaculture is better among men, and also among higher-income consumers. Informative activities should be organized to target these more hesitant groups. Production structures should be revised to overcome biases in the population about the idea that the food obtained from aquaculture harms the environment or is less natural or healthy. The possible abuse of feed and chemicals spreads this idea, and this could affect the taste and quality adversely.
水产养殖作为一种生产食物的技术正处于争议之中，因为它可能会对包括传统渔业在内的经济或环境产生影响，甚至消费者健康也存在疑问。本文从承载能力的角度研究其社会接受度。这个术语被定义为该活动开始变得不成比例并给社会带来重大不利影响的水平。在此背景下，我们在西班牙六个沿海省份进行了803项调查。结果表明，这些产品的接受度良好，这意味着水产养殖在社会上远未达到饱和点。此外，受访者对社会经济目标的重视程度高于环境目标。我们可以得出结论，在这些省份，该行业进一步发展是可取的。男性以及高收入消费者对水产养殖的总体看法更好。应该针对这些较为犹豫的群体组织宣传活动。应该修订生产结构，以克服民众对于从水产养殖获得的食物危害环境或不够天然健康这种观念的偏见。饲料和化学品的可能滥用助长了这种观念，并且这可能会对口感和质量产生不利影响。
