INTRODUCTION 



This is a report on a June, 1956 nationwide survey 

 pertaining to the use of canned fish and shellfish products by 

 household consumers and their specific preferences, demands, likes 

 and dislikes affecting the actual and potential market for these 

 products. The survey was carried out by W. R» Simmons and Asso- 

 ciates Research, Inc., under contract with the United States Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. 



The canned fish and shellfish industry is confronted with 

 many economic and market problems which stimulated the effort put 

 forth in this survey to find the answers to some of these problems. 

 Because of changes in income and standards of living among the 

 masses of lower income consumers, many families are up-grading the 

 types of fishery products they use. The competition of imported 

 products and domestic oversupply are often depressing factors on 

 canned fishery product markets. The industry is faced with a press- 

 ing need for expanding markets. At the same time, partly because of 

 the fragmentation of the industry- into many small firms which are 

 unable to conduct any basic marketing research, it is handicapped 

 by insufficient knowledge of consumer demand and buying practices. 

 This survey was designed to provide information which will help the 

 domestic fishing industry with its production and marketing problems. 



The population under study consisted of all private house- 

 holds in the United States. To represent this population, a national 

 prelisted probability sample of those households was designed. On 

 the basis of this sample homemakers or persons mainly responsible for 

 planning meals in 2,5U3 households were interviewed during the last 

 three weeks of June, 1956. 



The sample used for the survey was carefully designed to 

 reflect the existing geographic distribution of the population. 

 Moreover, the sampling tolerances for all the important findings of 

 the survey are sufficiently low that the user may have confidence 

 that the results would not differ materially from a complete count 

 among all irivate households. The technical procedures employed 

 are described to some extent under "Survey Methods" and in greater 

 detail in the Appendix. 



