A Geographic Analysis of the Marketing Strategy for WV Aquaculture Producers

T. Borisova 1, G. D'Souza 1, D. Miller 1 and C. Zabriskie 2

West Virginia University (1)
Canaan Valley Institute (2)

Aquaculture has been recognized as a promising area of economic development in West Virginia due to the abundance of fresh water. However, to guarantee profits and to stimulate the growth of the industry, a balanced marketing strategy for WV aquaculture products should be developed. The strategy should include the selection of the target market and the design of the proper product mix, price, promotion mechanisms, and distribution system to meet the needs of the consumers. This research examines geographic characteristics of the marketing strategy for the WV trout producers. For each relatively large fish grower and processor and for two different market segments food versus recreational segments), market radius is determined as the largest distance to which it is profitable to transport the product. Then, the profit-maximizing shipment patterns to various market locations and segments are estimated. For most of the small growers, it is profitable to sell their product through their own fee fishing sites, while large growers maximize profit by supplying fish to recreational and food markets in several geographic locations. The shipment patterns depend on transportation cost values, as well as the number and capacities of the processing plants. Based on current locations of fish growers and their potential markets, the optimal locations and capacities of the processing plants are determined. With respect to existing fish processing plants, we find that their locations are close to optimal. ArcView 3.3 was used to find road distances and to compare the market radius and geographic market coverage for fish growers and processors. The results should be useful to producers and processors of fresh fish and seafood in the study area, and have implications for other areas where firm location is linked to spatial, market, and demographic characteristics.

Keywords: aquaculture, marketing strategy, geographic analysis

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