Local seafood products: Consumers and territory for a rural development strategy in the south of italy

This paper aims to identify how the local fish products of the seaside villages are a key factor in the development strategies and diversification of the “Strait Coast” FLAG area in the Costa Viola and in the Aeolian Islands. The main objective of the research, based on interviews involving 240 consumers, was to examine the consumption of blue fish and local seafood and the motivation to purchase in order to examine the possible strategies to make competitive the fishing “areas” also focusing on the integrated enhancement of fish, touristic, agro-food, artisanal and naturalistic-environmental resources of the territory.