Methods of market study

To answer the question ‘’ is selectively fishing for and selling of lionfish and associated bycatch an economically feasible option for Saba’s fishermen?’’, three separate questionnaires conducted with three population groups. One with the fisherman of Saba, one with the restaurant owners and chefs of Saba, and an online survey which aimed the target the consumers and local population of Saba. The three questionnaires can be found in Appendices I, II, and III. Davis (2016) used questionnaires for the same three groups of general public, restaurant chefs and fishermen on the island of Bermuda for his research regarding the possibilites of a commercial lionfish market in that region, and his methods were partly copied in this study. Although in theory the method of self-completion questionnaires was used instead of face-to-face interviews, it often happened that questionnaires were read-out loud for the respondents to answer. This would often results in a mixture between an interview and a true self-completion questionnaire, as often the motives behind certain choices in answers were given.

Although these motives and discussion points are not taken in to account in the analysis of the questionnaire results, they do provide interesting perspectives to be further reviewed when answering the sub- and main questions and discussing the results. Overall, questionnaires were structured, and the results were kept anonymous to be able to compare data between respondents and to limit socially desirable answers.

3.3.1 Data collection

Questionnaires for restaurant owners and chefs

Restaurants on the island were visited during one week in September. The reason for the visit would be explained to whomever would come to say welcome. Sometimes this would be the owner, otherwise the owner would come to speak when asked for. In some cases, the owner was also the head chef of the restaurant. The owner or head chef was explained the purpose of the research and the structure of the questionnaire. It was preferred to carry out the questionnaires in person to allow for more in-depth discussion regarding certain aspects, but this was not always possible due to the busy schedules of the owners or chefs. In this case the questionnaire would be given to them to fill out in their own time, and an appointment would be made to retrieve the filled-out questionnaire on another day.

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In total eleven restaurants were approached. Not a single restaurant refused to participate. Most restaurants were in the village of Windwardside. Three were in The Bottom and two were located down in the harbour known as Fort Bay. Most owners or chefs were happy to help with the questionnaires, while some were a little reluctant at first. The aim was to keep all results anonymously, the respondents have been given a unique survey ID, reaching from R1 (R as in ‘’Restaurant’’) to R11 (see Table 4 for an overview of the surveys, location and role of the respondent). The restaurants had a wide variety of styles, ranging from simple non-formal diners and bars, to the classic semi-formal grill and pizza places to more luxurious and chic restaurants with extensive menus. Reluctance from two from the eleven respondents was either due to lack of interest and knowledge about lionfish or since the owner aimed to create a vegetarian and vegan menu and was not interested in extensively discussing lionfish. Both of these questionnaires were taken on the spot.

Table 4. Overview of the restaurants which were part of the survey. Information is given on the location of the restaurant, whether the main respondent was either the owner, head chef, or both and if the questionnaire was self-completed entirely or taken on the spot.

Survey ID Location Role of respondent Self-completion or

taken on the spot

R1 Fort Bay Owner and chef On the spot

R2 Windwardside Owner and chef Self-completion

R3 Windwardside Owner Self-completion

R4 Fort Bay Owner Self-completion

R5 The Bottom Owner and chef On the spot

R6 Windwardside Owner Self-completion

R7 Windwardside Owner and chef Self-completion

R8 Windwardside Chef On the spot

R9 The Bottom Owner and chef On the spot

R10 Windwardside Owner On the spot

R11 The Bottom Chef On the spot

The focus in the questionnaires for the restaurant owners and chefs was on their knowledge, or lack of, lionfish and its preparation, their possible interest in serving lionfish and associated willingness to pay (WTP) for a pound of uncleaned lionfish, their willingness to accept (WTA) for a dish with lionfish, and the demand for lionfish they experience from customers in their establishment. Willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) are terms often used in market studies. WTA is the minimum amount of money a person is willing to accept for a product or service. WTP is the maximum amount of money a person is willing to pay for that product or service (Martin-Fernández, et al., 2010).

Information on these topics will aid in mapping the potential market and supply chain for caught lionfish and its value.

Questionnaires for fishermen of Saba

Fishermen on Saba are obligated to participate in any research in relation to the Saba Bank. In total five fishermen where approached for the questionnaire. It was helpful that the fishermen were already known personally through the fisheries monitoring project of Wageningen Marine Research.

The questionnaires and the research purpose were introduced beforehand to the fishermen in person whenever they would arrive in the harbour after a fishing trip. They were asked if they would have time somewhere in the coming days to fill in the questionnaire. A positive answer to this question was given most of the time, although it was met with some reluctance by some. The fishermen would thus be approached again on another day after they would return, and the questionnaire would be given to them and conducted with them on the spot, with the questions and answers read-out loud. This

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personal approach was fruitful for a bit of discussion between the questions and gives a bit more insights into the fishermen’s motives for giving certain answers. This also may have contributed to more honest answers as we were aware that some fishermen had a lack of faith in the experiment with the lionfish traps and the methods used and tended to disregard any notion of selectively fishing for lionfish. To ensure the animosity of the fishermen and their answers each questionnaire was given a unique survey ID, reaching from F1 (F as in ‘’fisherman’’) to F5. The focus in the questionnaires for the fisherman was on potential buyers of lionfish, possible export locations, the demand for lionfish meat on Saba and the fishermen’s WTA per pound of lionfish in US Dollars. Based on a hypothetical example of a nine-hour fishing trip, which is the average duration of a fishing trip according to Toller

& Lundvall (2008), the cost of an average fishing trip was identified. Answers to these types of questions allow for the creation of a hypothetical situation in which lionfish is the main target species, and in turn serves as a basis to calculate the potential of a lionfish fishery in combination with the results from the other interviews and the trap study described earlier.

Online survey general public

To sample the general public an online survey was created using the software from Survey Hero. The survey was distributed using mainly the social media outlet of Facebook. The survey was distributed both to friends and family and it was distributed on popular community pages, including one purely consisting of temporary and permanent residents on Saba. This way it was attempted to sample a wide range of different people with different backgrounds. Also, this method would result in three population groups, those who are residents on Saba, those who have visited Saba either as a tourist or other reasons and those who have not been to Saba. The online survey for the general public investigated if the public knew about lionfish, if they would be willing to eat lionfish, if they knew how to prepare lionfish, and their WTP for a lionfish dish in a restaurant and for a pound of uncleaned lionfish. Because it is known where the respondents come from and whether they have visited Saba or live there, answers from the survey can be compared between these groups. Differences in awareness of lionfish as an invasive species and its edibility can be found, and an idea can be formed about the attitude towards lionfish consumption and its value on Saba itself. The survey was open for approximately four weeks, and when no new responses were coming in the results were exported and saved.

3.3.2 Data analysis of interviews

Data collected during the interviews was processed into datasheets in Microsoft Excel. Data from the online survey was also exported to IBM SPSS to allow for more specific and in-depth interpretation of the data. The information gathered from these questionnaires will be descriptive in nature due to the low n-values, especially for the populations of fishermen and restaurant chefs and owners. Descriptive statistics in the form of percentages and frequencies were applied to the data sets at first to map the differences between the respondents’ their answers, and with the use of bar charts and histograms interesting results are made visible. Regarding questions concerning the WTP and WTA for either a pound of uncleaned lionfish or a lionfish dish (the latter only applying to the restaurants) the mean amounts will be calculated to allow for comparison between groups.

Estimation of economic value of a lionfish fishery

Combining the results of both sub-questions an estimation of the economic value of a lionfish fishery using the most effective method can be made. Using the date on the mean catch rate of lionfish and commercially attractive bycatch species and the mean WTP and WTA for a pound of lionfish combined with the established price for a pound of redfish (Toller & Lundvall, 2008), the total value of a single average lionfish fishing trip can be calculated. Subtracting the mean operational costs for such a fishing trip result in an estimated net-income. However, these are assumptions based upon means. It could

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Figure 11. Lionfish specimen caught in a traditional lionfish trap with a blue FAD. Notice how it resides inside the FAD.

give insights if a lionfsh fishery is able to compare economically to a redfish fishery and if it will thus suffice as an alternative.