Results of market study

Results from questionnaires for restaurant chefs and owners

Nationalities of chefs and owners ranged from Asian to European to South and North American nationalities. None of the restaurant chefs or owners were of Saban nationality. 73% of the respondents was between 40 and 59 years old. The other 27% was between 30 and 39 years old.

64% of the respondents answered ‘’yes’’ to the question whether they knew how to clean and prepare lionfish. One respondent (9% of total) did not know how to prepare lionfish but was interested to learn the skill. 27% of the respondents did not know how to prepare lionfish, neither were they interested in learning the skill (see Graph 11).

27% of the respondents serve lionfish regularly. One of the respondents serves it from time to time and 64% of the respondents do not serve lionfish. 43% of the respondents who know how to clean and prepare lionfish do currently not serve lionfish in their establishment. Interestingly, one of these respondents explained that there was no interest in serving it, even though he knew how to prepare it (as we were shown one being prepared in the kitchen for personal consumption). The reason was that the owner did not experience customers being interested in ordering fish in his establishment in general, and usual prepares lionfish for his own consumption or for close friends. 29% of the respondents with the skill to prepare lionfish did admit that even if they do not serve it currently, they are interested to add it to the menu if the supply of lionfish allows for it (see Graph 12). The one respondent who was interested in learning how to prepare lionfish was also interested in serving it.

However, the respondent did mention the difficulty in acquiring lionfish on Saba, especially since the respondent mentioned that most fishermen tend to sell their lionfish to a single restaurant.

Graph 11. Results for the question whether the chef or owner knew how to prepare lionfish

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Two out of the four restaurants which serve lionfish either sometimes or all the time serve more than twenty dishes with lionfish a week. The restaurant which serves it periodically sells one to five a week and the last restaurant with a permanent presence of lionfish on the menu serves six to ten a week.

For those respondents which were either already serving lionfish or interested in serving lionfish the mean willingness to pay amounted to $4.60 per pound of uncleaned lionfish.

Graph 12. Results for whether chef or owner was interested in serving lionfish.

Graph 13. Results regarding the statement about the current state of lionfish supply and demand on Saba.

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55% of the respondents experienced customers specifically enquiring about lionfish in their establishment. Almost all these 55% were respondents who either sell lionfish of are interested in selling lionfish. The amount of times they experienced this a week ranges from one to more than ten times, with an average of four times.

Considering the statements about the current state of affairs regarding lionfish supply and demand on Saba 55% stated that the demand of lionfish is higher than the supply. 18% thought the supply is too inconsistent and 18% did not know. Not a single respondent was of opinion that the supply of lionfish exceeds the demand on Saba (see Graph 13).

Results from questionnaires for fishermen

All five fishermen interviews were of Saban nationality and their age ranged from 21 to 49. 60% of the fishermen sells the lionfish they have caught. One fisherman never catches lionfish, and this is likely because this fisherman only participates in the lobster fishery and lionfish bycatch is usually low in lobster pots. Another fisherman admitted not selling the lionfish he caught but rather throws it overboard with the rest of the bycatch as catch rates for lionfish are very low. The three fishermen who do sell their lionfish only sell to restaurants on Saba and do not export their lionfish. All three fishermen shared one single restaurant as customer on Saba. All fishermen gave as reason why they do not export their lionfish is simply because they do not catch enough of them. This is an interesting point since nearly all fishermen spoken to told us lionfish catch rates use to be much higher in the past couple of years but has declined sharp lately. However, not much of a market existed back then and most were ‘’fed to the sharks’’ as one fisherman put it. Regarding supply and demand of lionfish on Saba all fishermen agreed to the same statement that the supply of lionfish is not nearly enough these days to meet the demand.

The average WTA per pound of uncleaned lionfish was $3.50. They all preferred to sell their lionfish uncleaned as the added worth of a cleaned lionfish (which amounted to about $1 according to some fishermen) was negligible for the amount of labour it required. The average costs for a 9-hour fishing trip ranged from estimates of $400 to $750 with an average of $520. It was noted by some fisherman that is was difficult to estimate since it really depends on how far you go on to the Saba Bank.

Four out of five fishermen would agree to close the redfish fisheries for a season. Most fishermen noticed a decline in the sizes and number of red snappers they caught over the last couple of months and do agree that it is necessary to let the stocks recover and replenish any time soon.

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Results from online survey of general population of consumers In total 146 responses from the

general public were gathered.

Eleven percent of these were residents of Saba, 21% have been to Saba and the other 74%

have never been to Saba (see Graph 14).

From all the respondents by far the age group which was most represented was the group between 21 and 29 years old, with 45,2% of the total respondents. The second highest group was the age group

50 to 59 years old with 19,2% of the total respondents and the third largest group was 60 years or older (16,4%). The smallest age group was twenty years or younger (3,4%).

18,5% of the respondents did not eat fish at all, while most respondents were eating fish one to two days a week (73,3%).

Nineteen percent of the respondents had never heard of lionfish before. None of these are the respondents who either live on Saba of have visited Saba in the past but consist only of those who have never been to Saba before (see Graph 15). From the residents of Saba, who are all familiar with lionfish, only 17,6 % had never eaten lionfish before (All Sabans eat fish at least once a week, so not due to vegetarian or veganism). 66,7% of the visitors to Saba have tried lionfish

once in their lives. Only 32% of the rest of the respondents have ever eaten lionfish.

80,1% of the total respondents would order a lionfish dish in a restaurant. Reasons respondents would not order it were based on assumptions that lionfish might be poisonous (29,7%) and a variety of other reasons specified by the respondents themselves, which in summary were amongst the following:

- No chance to try lionfish yet;

- Unwilling to eat unknown species;

- Lack of information on edibility lionfish;

- Vegetarian / vegan;

- Reluctance due to unknown taste;

- Got ill after eating (possibly ciguatera);

- Fish consumption should be minimal;

Graph 14. Results from the question regarding whether the respondent has ever been to Saba.

Graph 15. Results from the question whether the respondent has ever heard about lionfish. Answers are split between the respondent’s answers to whether they had ever been to Saba.

35 - Lionfish does not look tasty (small, bony);

- Lionfish not available;

- Not familiar with the species;

- Ability to catch and prepare lionfish on their own;

A wide variety of answers was given as to the willingness to pay for a dish of lionfish at a restaurant, probably due to different nationalities and average restaurant prices respondents are used to in their environment. Graph 16 shows the distribution of the amounts in US Dollar given as responses. Data was not normally distributed, as the Shapiro-Wilk test of Normality concluded (df=129; P=0,000). Most frequent were the amounts of either $15, $20 or $25, with a mean amount of $19.

30,1% of the total respondents knows how to properly prepare lionfish themselves. Of these respondents, 61,4% was interested in buying lionfish for personal consumption. The willingness to pay per pound of lionfish in US Dollar ranged from $2 to $10, with $5 being the most common amount chosen and $5,93 being the mean. The question was answered by 50% of the total population. Graph 17 shows the distribution of the amounts in US Dollar given as responses. Data was not normally distributed, as the Shapiro-Wilk test of Normality concluded (df=73; P=0,000).

For both Saba residents and visitors to Saba the mean willingness to pay for a lionfish dish amounts to

$19,71 and per pound of uncleaned lionfish it amount to $5,96. 42% of this sub-population knows how to prepare lionfish, and 53% are interested in buying lionfish for personal consumption.

Graph 16. Results from the question regarding the willingness to pay for a lionfish dish in a restaurant. Data is not normally distributed.

36 Economic potential of a lionfish fishery

On an average fishing trip hauling 30 pots (Toller & Lundvall, 2008) they would catch approximately 15 individual lionfish (0,52 x 30) with an average size of 32 centimetres. At 32 centimetres an average lionfish weighs an estimated 1,10 pounds (Barbour, Allen, Frazer, & Sherman, 2011). This would mean a single trip could potential haul 16,5 pounds of lionfish. The average haul redfish species as bycatch is 65 per trip and amount approximately to 85 pounds when taking an average weight of 1,3 pounds per individual redfish species, based upon approximations from fishermen. Uncleaned lionfish sells for an average of $3,50 per pound and gutted redfish for $5 per pound (Kuramae Izioka, pers.

communication, September 2019). In total this would mean an average fishing trip hauling 30 funnel lionfish traps would be worth $482,75 in lionfish and redfish bycatch alone ($58 for lionfish and $425 for redfish bycatch). Minus the average operational costs of $520 the mean net-income of a fishing trip would be -$38.

Graph 17. Results from the question regarding the willingness to pay for a pound of uncleaned lionfish. Data is not normally distributed.

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