Table 1 Summary of evaluations conducted under relevant physical and nutritional attributes of the commercial and human welfare in mussels affected by ocean acidification.

From: Linking social preferences and ocean acidification impacts in mussel aquaculture

Category

Attributes Measured

Impact on market and/or wellbeing

OA experimental results.

Attributes’ social valuation (%)*

Attributes’ WTP**

WTP for 250 g of mussels quality loss***

Previous study

Previous study approach

Appearance

SHELL SIZE

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections

not tested

shell size: valued by 53,42% of respondents.

Shell size US$ 0.25

From Baseline product to shell size loss product: US$10.04 ->US$9.81

Adams et al., 201176

Batzios et al., 200477 Penney et al., 200730

Growers perception (Slightly Economic) Consumer attitude (Social) Variability on appearance (Biological)

MEAT COLOR

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections

not tested

meat color: valued by 57,90% of respondents.

Color of the meat US$ 1.22

From shell size loss product to color meat loss product: US$ 9.81 -> US$8.73

SHELL COLOR

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections

negative

not decolotated shell color: valued by 73,43% of respondents.

Color of the shell US$ 3.78

From color meat loss product to color shell loss product US$ 8.73 -> US$5.75

Nutritional Characteristics

OMEGA-3

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections/ Vascular benefits, lower triglyerides, cardiac filling and myocardial efficiency, inflammation, thrombosis, and arrhythmia

negative

nutritional characteristics: valued by 61.65% of respondents.

nutritional characteristics US$ 1.39

From color shell loss product to nutritional characteristics loss product: US$ 5.75 -> US$4.79

Mozaffarian et al., 201141 Grienke et al., 201425

Benefits on human health (Biological) Effect on human health (Biological)

EPA & DHA

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections/ reduced risk of cardiovascular events, diabetes mellitus, inhibiting growth of tumor cells, antiinflammatory activity, essential for fetal development

neutral

Kaur et al., 201140 Swanson et al., 201239

Benefits on human health (Biological) Benefits on human health (Biological)

VIT B12

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejections/ Essential for metabolism of fats and carbohydrates and the synthesis of proteins

negative

Huskisson et al., 200778 Lund, 201379

Importance in metabolism (Biological) Benefits in human health (Biological)

PROTEIN

impact on marketability, consumer election and buyer rejection/ proteins are highly digestible and have a high biological value

negative

Tacon and Metian, 201380

Human nutrition (Biological)

  1. *Distribution of heterogeneity of preferences for mussel’s attributes, under normally distributed random coefficients. For instance, consumers showed preferences for OA-free shells (73.43%), the remaining 26,57% of respondents does not show preferences for this attribute.
  2. **Marginal Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for an improvement in the selected attribute.
  3. ***The maximum Willingness to Pay (WTP) for 250 gr of mussel.