How the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the behaviour of consumers of fisheries and aquaculture products (FAP) in France

A year after the pandemic, we surveyed 1268 French FAP consumers in April 2021 to evaluate if the crisis had led to more sustainable consumption patterns by giving priority to fresh seafood from local circuits. We also match those results with a study prior to the Covid-19 to estimate the impact of the crisis on the perception of FAP. For more than 50% of consumers, the Covid-19 crisis did not lead to change in their FAP consumption and we found a very small proportion of consumers who increased their purchases of fresh FAP and favoured short channels during and after the Covid-19 crisis. We demonstrate that pre-Covid-19 characteristics and attitudes are important explanatory factors for behaviour during the crisis. Big consumers of fresh FAP and consumers with a positive image of the health benefits of seafood were more likely to have increased their consumption of fresh FAP. Similarly, people who were used to consuming FAP away from home instead consumed FAP at home during the crisis and after. The results also suggest that consumers tended to perceive FAP as more expensive after the Covid-19, a major obstacle to the emergence of more sustainable consumption behaviour in this sector.