The latest biannual global survey conducted by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) indicates consumers are increasingly concerned about the health of the oceans and sea life.
The independent survey was conducted by GlobeScan for the MSC and adds to years of data the organization has accumulated through biannual surveys. The survey asked questions to over 27,000 people in 23 different countries to see how their diets are changing and determine their thoughts on the ocean and sustainability.
According to the latest data, consumers – particularly U.S. shoppers – are increasingly concerned about ocean sustainability.
“A big finding was that the concern for ocean health and overfishing has increased,” MSC Marketing Manager Kristen Stevens told SeafoodSource.
Historically, U.S. consumers cared less about the ocean than other biomes, but that's changing, according to Stevens.
“[They] are actually starting to be on par with some of our European colleagues,” Stevens said.
According to the survey data, the top three environmental concerns for U.S. consumers were pollution at 40 percent, the loss of forests and rainforests at 38 percent, and the decline in fish populations and sea life at 37 percent.
GlobeScan Principal Christine LaMontagne said 90 percent of the survey's respondents expressed some level of concern about the state of the world’s oceans.
"That’s a record high,” LaMontagne told SeafoodSource.
LaMontagne said one of the key shifts indicated by the survey is that people are feeling more empowered to make dietary changes for environmental reasons. According to the data, more than 22,000 respondents said they had changed their diets in some way over the past few years, and 43 percent of those people said environmental concerns were one of the top three reasons they did so.
In the U.S., 34 percent of consumers changed diets for environmental reasons, up from 31 percent in the previous survey. LaMontagne also said buying behavior was also influenced by pricing, in line with past surveys.
Tinned fish consumption has spiked, which Stevens partially attributed to the “tinned fish date night” trend started on TikTok in 2023, which some companies have capitalized on for pushing their products to new audiences.
“Tinned and canned fish consumption [is] almost double what it was in 2022, in the last survey,” Stevens said.
Stevens said the trend is leading consumers to become more interested in seafood sustainability.
“We think that is helping to grow awareness of sustainability and the MSC label,” Stevens said. “We just know commonly purchased species of tinned fish like tuna are often questioned when it comes to sustainability.”
Those questions could be leading people to recognize labels more or ask questions about the origin of the seafood they are purchasing, Stevens said.
The rise of sustainability-conscious brands and the awareness those brands bring to sustainability issues has also likely helped more people in recognizing what sustainability labeling is and means, according to Stevens.
“There are a number of these more premium brands that use sustainability as a key selling point,” Stevens said. “They’re recognizing the concern in the marketplace for sustainability is rising.”
As concern rises, awareness of the Marine Stewardship Council eco-label is also increasing, Stevens said. In 2022, just 22 percent of the general public indicated they had noticed the MSC label, but that number increased to 28 percent in the latest survey.
“That’s general public, not just seafood consumers,” she said.
Of those who noticed, those who understood its significance increased from 19 percent to 31 percent.
“That’s the [part] that I would argue is more impactful: not only have they seen the label, but they also know what it means,” Stevens said. “Broadly, consumers are talking about it in a way they didn’t before.”
LaMontagne said the number of people who have never heard of the MSC or eco-labels has dropped “significantly” since 2018.
One topic the survey did not touch on directly was new revelations of forced labor in the U.S. seafood supply chain and criticism of the auditing processes of eco-labels including MSC.
Stevens said the survey didn’t directly ask about the report; rather, it asked generalized questions about whether people have heard negative news about the fishing or seafood industries.
“We didn’t give them anything leading,” she said. “This year, as in years past, it’s really been about pollution and plastics.”
With the latest survey data in hand, the MSC is planning to work with its partners to push the needle even further on sustainability and on consumer awareness of what eco-labeling means. Retailers or seafood companies can pair the data to their goals to figure out the best way to nudge consumers toward sustainable options.
“It’s so helpful because that helps us close that value action gap and motivate actual change,” Stevens said.
