Survey of Fish Consumption in Madras-BOBP/WP/83
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Fish occupies an important position in the diet of much of the population living in the Bay of Bengal region. It is the most favoured and least expensive form of animal protein available. But poor post-harvest techniques can cause substantial material and nutritional losses of fish. Most commonly, bad handling of fish upon capture leads to rapid spoilage and inevitable downgradation in value. Subsequent poor, or inadequate, processing, marketing and distribution practices tend, in turn, to lead to low-quality products with low market values. It was against this backdrop that the ODA-funded Post-Harvest Fisheries Project of the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP) sought to examine the consumption of marine produce and the extent of current wastage. More specifically, it sought to assess what determined the demand for marine produce — rational considerations or attitudinal aspects or both. It was decided to confine such a study to Madras, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, in th e first instance, but felt it could later be extended to other cities. The underlying reason for studying the market in Madras was that the demand for fish in this metropolis was felt to be considerably low vis-a-vis the availability. To this end, MARG, a leading marketing and research group, was engaged to conduct exploratory research in Madras and study the consumption and attitudes to consumption of marine produce in households in the city. This document not only comprises a report of the f indings by MARG during its study, but it also presents a Foreword indicating possible future interventions in the clearly important area of fish marketing. Both the study and the working paper on its findings were funded by the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom.