From Catch to Kitchen: Learning from Recreational Fishers to Diversify Seafood Choices (BARKR_UEA_SENSSC26)

This fully funded PhD offers an exciting opportunity to address a pressing sustainability challenge: how to diversify fish consumption. The UK is an Island nation and UK fishermen land a wide diversity of species, but most of these are exported. This is because the UK public consume a very narrow range of fish species, most of which are imported.

This trade mismatch is consequential; consumers are vulnerable to external shocks (climate, price volatility, war), emissions associated with fishing are higher, and small, local fisheries and the communities that rely on them are declining. Researching this topic and designing interventions is both timely and critical. In contrast to the UK public, recreational anglers catch and eat more seafood and a much wider range of species.

Therefore, understanding their preferences, including for fish preparation and cooking, offers a unique opportunity to explore and design interventions, including science communication, to diversify the fish consumption habits of the wider UK public towards a healthier and more sustainable seafood diet. The PhD, through combining fisheries science and social sciences with strong collaborative partnerships between the University of East Anglia (UEA), the Centre for Economic and Social Research for the Global Environment (CERGE), the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas (CCSUS), and the Marine Biological Association (MBA),