L’identità territoriale quale fattore di valorizzazione della filiera pesca

Territorial identity as a valorisation factor of the fish chain. A valorisation strategy needs to meet three main priorities: fulfil customer needs, be profitable to the operator and solve the problem of selling the products on the market. The first objective of this research was to understand the target species of interest for a sustainable valorisation strategy of fish products. The target species are those of low commercial value which are fished locally during the whole year and can be consumed both as fresh fish and as transformed fish products. The choice of these fish species was based on the unsustainable fish catches and on the local historical assets of the traditional methods of fishing and of the conservation techniques. In particular, we focus our attention on the fish known as “poor fish”, which has a lower commercial attraction compared to the well known fish species. This work is articulated in several different steps: the description of the type of species chosen, the analysis of fish consumer demand and the added value that comes from local identity and from the culture of production and consumption. The outcome of these results form the base to define the valorisation strategies to adopt. This research was conducted in the Lazio region. After a preliminary analysis of Lazio’s fish export towards EU 27, compared to exports of other Italian regions towards the EU 27, the Lazio region did not show a competitive advantage in this sector. Even if it is not competitive in terms of fish export, this region showed some productive characteristics that can be extended to several other cases. In fact, it has a productive tradition of fishing but it is only marginal fishing in terms of quantity and quality of the local fish species. The empirical analysis conducted on local consumers showed a local fish culture on a consumption that, together with fishing methods, local fish consumption and production characteristics, suggested a valorisation strategy based on the territorial identity factors.