Research On Consumers’ Purchase Intention Of Wild Freshwater Fish From The Perspective Of Ecological Protection

In China,there are a large quantity of people consume aquatic products and aquatic products occupy an important position in the diet structure of residents.Influenced by traditional Chinese food culture,consumers show great preference for wild freshwater fish.Driven by market interests,wild freshwater fish are overfished,and affected by high intensity human activities such as river damming,sand digging and stone quarrying,the ecological environment is seriously deteriorated and fishery resources are rapidly depleted.Wild fishery resources play an important role in national ecological security and healthy and sustainable development of aquaculture industry.Facing the endangering ecological environment in the Yangtze River Basin,the Chinese government has implemented a ten-year fishing ban policy to protect the wild freshwater fishery resources from the supply side.In this context,such questions are raised as how do consumers react to this and are they willing to reduce or even refuse to purchase wild freshwater fish to protect the aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin? Furthermore,the association between COVID-19 pandemic and wildlife trade in the seafood market in Wuhan has aroused public concern about wildlife consumption and public health safety.The subsequent coronavirus transmission incidents related to aquatic products pushed the consumption of aquatic products to the forefront.Does the external stimulus caused by COVID-19 pandemic have an impact on consumers’ health and safety perception and purchase intention of wild freshwater fish? What is the degree of the impact? Can “the ban on wildlife” and “the ban on fishing” be taken as an opportunity to make consumers abandon the traditional habit of consuming wild freshwater fish,form a new consumption trend of scientific civilization and green,and help protect wild fishery resources from the demand side?The study combs and summarizes the existing literature,and constructs theoretical analysis frameworks based on the theory of planned behavior(TPB),the theory of normative activation(NAM)and SOR theory.Based on the data of 1235 online questionnaires from eight provinces(including two province-level municipalities)in the Yangtze River Basin,structural equation model(SEM)and ordered logistic regression were applied to explore the internal and external factors that affect purchase intention of wild freshwater fish.Through innovative research perspectives and theories,this paper discussed the internal motivation of consumers’ demand for wild freshwater fish,and put forward targeted policy suggestions to promote consumers to establish a scientific,civilized and green consumption concept and promote the protection of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River and the sustainability and healthy of aquaculture,which has certain theoretical and practical significance.The empirical results are as follows: Firstly,in the study of the internal influencing factors of the purchase intention of wild freshwater fish with personal norm(moral obligation)as core variable,consumers showed a positive attitude(evaluation to an object)towards wild freshwater fish,with strong personal norm and environmental concern(attitude towards environmental protection),and weak subjective norm(perceived social pressure)and perceived behavioral control(perceived ease or difficulty in performing the behavior).Subjective norm was the strongest direct determinant of purchase intention,followed by personal norm,attitude,environmental concern,and perceived behavioral control.It was also found that attitude,subjective norm,perceived behavioral control,and environmental concern had significant effects on personal norm which played a significant mediating role in forming purchase intention.In addition,in the study of the external influencing factors of the purchase intention of wild freshwater fish with external stimulus as core variable,the COVID-19 pandemic was found to change consumers’ perceived risk and purchase frequency of wild freshwater fish.The external stimulus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had little impact on perceived risk and purchase intention of wild freshwater fish.Consumers showed preference for wild freshwater fish and it had a significant impact on perceived risk and purchase intention.On this basis,it puts forward targeted and practical suggestions from government level and consumer level respectively.Regarding the government level,it is necessary to strengthen the popularization of knowledge related to aquatic products and teach consumers the skills to distinguish high-quality aquatic products,strengthen market supervision and improve the traceability system of aquatic products,strengthen the ideological education of consumers,create a social atmosphere for protecting ecological resources,and form a scientific,civilized and green consumption trend,and strengthen the construction of laws and regulations,including supply side and demand side,and impose severe punishment on the illegal fishing and illegal consumption of wild freshwater fish.At the consumer level,it is necessary to enhance the awareness of aquatic products,eliminate the blind area of consciousness,eliminate the prejudice against aquaculture aquatic products,and change the traditional eating habits,and enforce responsibility and moral obligation to protect the environment and resources,and practice the green and civilized way of life and consumption.