(Pounds) 



t., .inri l.niw ? .nnn I ,;mi) 



(Founds) 

 1,000 2,000 3.000 4,000 5,000 



Figure 17. — Consumption at home and away, by survey 

 panel: shrimp, lobster, halibut, haddock, and 

 flounder. 



the finfish examined, it was found that the pro- 

 portion of halibut and flounder consumed away 

 from home was 11 '^r in each case, while 7% 

 of haddock was consumed outside the home. 

 The above estimates are the result of pre- 

 liminary considerations of the data in the sur- 

 vey. Further study in this direction is in- 

 tended. It should be noted, however, that the 

 finding's are not inconsistent with the results of 

 a 1965 survey of food consumption conducted 

 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Le- 

 Bovit, 1970) . In that survey it was found that, 

 overall, about 20% of fish product consump- 

 tion occurred away from home. The aver- 

 age from the present survey appears to be 

 slightly lower. Possibly these estimates will 

 evoke surprise from domestic producers of 

 certain seafood products who are accustomed 

 to marketing 40% or more of their output to 

 the institutional trade, which appears to be 

 the case for shrimp and finfish portions. With 

 this in mind, and assuming a fair degree of 

 accuracy in the survey, it would appear that 

 imports are predominant in retail sales. For 

 example, if it is true that about 80% of shrimp 

 are consumed at home and also that 40% of 

 the domestic output of shrimp is distributed 

 through institutions, then 3 out of every 5 lb. 

 of shrimp purchased in retail stores are im- 



ports. In any event, the important point is 

 that the larger volume of total distribution of 

 seafood products flows through the retail mar- 

 kets and these outlets warrant attention in mass 

 marketing strategies. Competition from im- 

 ports in the retail markets is likely to be keener 

 than experienced in the institutional trade. 



RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME 

 AND CONSUMPTION 



The survey indicated a clear tendency for 

 households with higher incomes to consume 

 greater quantities of most shellfish products. 

 Consumer panel households in the $10,000 plus 

 income bracket, for example, consumed 38% 

 of the shrimp tallied in the survey although 

 the group comprised only 31% of the total num- 

 ber of households. Similarly, the upper income 

 group consumed well above their proportional 

 share of other shellfish with the exception of 

 oysters (Table 2). Apparently the income- 

 Table 2. — Percent of total U.S. seafood consumption 

 by household income, 1969. 



Percent of total consumption: 



Shrimp .... 

 Oysters .... 



Crabs 



Clams 



Scallops . . ■ 

 Ocean perch 

 Light tuna . 



17 

 32 

 18 

 14 

 19 

 29 

 20 



14 

 16 

 14 

 4 

 12 

 16 

 15 



31 



25 

 24 

 40 

 32 

 30 



38 

 27 

 44 

 42 

 37 

 25 

 37 



consumption relationship for oysters is the re- 

 verse of what was observed for other shell- 

 fish. About 48% of oysters were consumed in 

 survey households with incomes under $7,000; 

 this group made up 44 Sf of the total number 

 of households. The deviation exhibited by oys- 

 ters is likely influenced by the geographic dis- 

 tribution of oyster consumption. As noted pre- 

 viously, oysters are heavily consumed in areas 

 where they are produced. Family incomes in 

 these areas generally are below national aver- 

 ages. 



Two varieties of finfish were examined — 

 ocean perch (frozen) and tuna (canned). It 

 was found that consumption of ocean perch 

 tapered oflT in the top income g-roups whereas 



11 



