Profile and behavior of the consumers of soft crab caught with cages at Brazil coast

The coast of Brazil has showed in recent decades a decline in fishing activity of fish and shrimp, and along the time, the fishermen sought some other ways to get sustenance to their families. Among the new activities, appeared the fishing for soft crab with cages, currently practiced by more than 350 families that extract the meat from the soft crab in the Brazilian coast. Despite the relevance there was found no studies on this subject that discloses data on consumer preferences of this product, so in this regard, was held between September and November 2018 an exploratory-descriptive study with 177 consumers. The study revealed that the fried soft crab shell is the main delicacy preferred by the consumer, who consumes an average of 2.69 times a year. Consumption does not change in relation to age, gender and marital status, however, was noted an statistical differences by Spearman correlation coefficient, as it raises the level of education (r = 0,321;p <0.001), and income (r = 0,590; p < 0,001), consumption rises.


INTRODUCTION
Fishing is one of the most important activities, not just to generate income, but also as a food source of countless families and even entire communities.(HAZIN, 2010;NOMURA, 2010).Fishing is also a socio-economic relevance activity to several countries, and currently the largest fish producer in the world is China, which has a production of about 48 million tons, which represents almost a third of the total of 143 million tons of the world market (NOMURA, 2010).Specifically regarding fishing in Brazil, the practice of it, dates back even before the period of European settlement, a time when indigenous people occupied the country and have fed on fish, mollusks and crustaceans (CASTELLO, 2010;HAZIN, 2010).
The industry in Brazil, even after the post-colonial period, has traditionally been relegated to the background in the modernization process, which occurred in the world in the second half of the twentieth century.This condition reflected in the existence of many public policy point credits, short lived, benefiting a small number of artisanal fishermen and in larger quantity, vessel owners and fishermen with production industry bias (CAPELLESSO; CAZELLA, 2013).
Many regions in Brazil have declined production fishing, but in the coast of Paraná, this decline has been more accentuated, also according to Nomura, (2010), Anacleto et al. (2015) and Anacleto et al. (2016) the low production in the state of Paraná in artisanal fisheries is due to the technological model adopted by fishermen, classified as rudimentary when compared to other states in the southern region (Nomura, 2010;Anacleto et al., 2015;Anacleto et al., 2016).
Until the 60's, fish production in Paraná was still big and competitive, however, from the 80's, the productive chain of fish on the coast of Paraná underwent a wear and began to show decline production, partly in result of excessive extraction carried out by fishermen coming from Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina best technologically equipped in (ANACLETO et al., 2010;CAPELLESSO;CAZELLA, 2013).The decline in fish's production imposed to the fishermen the need to search for other alternatives for survival and income, and in this context, began the fishing for soft crab captured with cages (ANACLETO et al., 2016).
The Paraná coast is inhabited by two species of soft crab which according Anacleto et al. (2015), can be used for human consumption, and are the species Callinectes Danae and Arenaeus cribrarius.Fishing for soft crab using cages, it was conceived and started still in the 70s on the island of Tibicanga and soon became a capture device used by families of resident fishermen in other municipalities that compose the coast of Paraná (ANACLETO et al., 2015).
Fishing for soft crab with cages in the Brazil coast is composed mostly by resident fishermen in vulnerable and impoverished communities that previously, used the soft crab fishing process with dip nets or gill nets, methods still adopted until nowadays, but of a smaller efficiency.
The cages created by the fishermen themselves have the advantages of a low cost, long life, arriving to three years, besides the fact of soft crabs stay alive in the cage and the producer can make the selection of females and small crustaceans that are returned the sea (ANACLETO et al., 2016).Also according to Anacleto et al. (2015), the fishing with cages occurs at greater tidal influence moment, the water flow helps crabs to enter easily into the cages, which are previously baited with approximately 200 grams of fish waste, trapped by wires inside the cages.After that, the cages are placed on the sea and flagged by buoys improvised with bottle or polystyrene containers, and the soft crabs can now be withdrawn after 24 hours.
The commercialization of the soft crab according to Nomura, (2010), Anacleto et al. (2015) and Anacleto et al. (2016) occurs via the strip off of the soft crab (removal of the meat from inside the shell) after baking which can last for 6 to 12 hours.After this phase, the meat of the soft crab is separated into portions of 1 kg and sold fresh or even frozen.
The production and processing of soft crab meat are held during all seasons, especially in the summer months when consumption is higher due to the presence of tourists in the region in the months representing the school holiday periods (ANACLETO et al., 2015).
The production of crustaceans, as well as in Brazil, is needy for data on production and trade, but second Severino-Rodrigues et al. ( 2001) some types of crustaceans such as blue soft crab (genus Callinectes), despite being caught in most of handmade by fishing communities, have good prospects with respect to its fishing and marketing throughout the country coast.
Despite the relevance of the production and marketing of processed cage soft crab meat, few studies have been found about what think and want the consumer of this product.Know what the consumer think and want can guide the production and marketing of a product in order to expand its demand, which has great relevance given that this form of fishing is a source of income for impoverished communities.
So in this context, this study aimed to promote an assessment of the profile and behavior of the consumer of the processed soft crab meat caught with cages in the coast of Paraná which presents a similar condition to other regions of Brazil, in this context aiming to guide the market of the production and trade on the final consumer needs, and sought to specifically answer the following questions: Promote a diagnosis on the average consumption and socioeconomic consumer characterization of the soft crab meat fished with cages in the coast of Brazil.
Identify the main reasons that can hinder a consumer to consume soft crab meat fished with cages.
Investigate whether consumer behavior is changed due to the economic class, education, income or gender.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research developed in this article can be characterized as exploratory and descriptive and applied the quantitative method using a questionnaire with open semi structured questions (ANDRADE; BERTOLDI, 2012) as data collection instrument which were applied in 2015, and a review of the information will take place from September to November 2018, being the population sample of 177 consumers who answered the marketing research guidelines and consumption profile when the population is unknown (MALHOTRA, 2010).
The sampling according to the proposed Anacleto et al. (2014) required that the consumer of processed soft crab meat caught with cages should have consumed at least once in the last twelve months, and to submit the agreement to participate of the unidentified research.
The data analysis sought identify the correlation between the consumption variable of soft crab meat caught with cages and the education, living arrangements, income, age and marital status variables, which were considered as explanatory factors (MALHOTRA, 2010;ANACLETO et al., 2014).
The age distribution was adopted as IBGE ( 2016) and the classification of the economic condition according to the Economic Classification Criteria of Brazil (ABEP, 2016).
Firstly, was verified the intensity of the relationship between a correlation of variables, and to evaluate the influence of gender, age, education and economic status on consumption levels of processed soft crab meat caught with cages, were applied Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis' nonparametric tests, followed by the multiple comparison tests of means of Dunn, at the level of significance of 5% (p <0.05), similar to studies developed by Anacleto et al. (2014).
The existence of the correlation between the consumption of processed soft crab meat caught with cages and other variables was analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficient (HAIR et al., 2009).
The normality of the data, according to the proposed by Hair et al. (2009) was analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test at the p <0.05 level.
Consumer shopping behavior has been established from the information collected concerning the frequency of consumption, consumption motives (MALHOTRA, 2010).

RESULTS
The general average consumption of processed soft crab meat among respondents was 2.69 times per year, and the most soft crab meat consumers were women (n = 54%), and although there was little change in the average number of times of use, the differences were not statistically significant among themselves (p <0.001) (Table 1).
Consumer marital status was not an affecting factor to the consumption of soft crab meat, given that despite the divorced have higher average annual consumption (M = 3.07, SD = 0.88), the differences in relation to other groups were not significant too (p = 0.556) (Table 1).a,b,c There are no significant differences between the groups with the same letter: p> 0.05 Age was not an affecting factor to the consumption of soft crab meat, since there were no significant differences (p = 0.921) between the frequency of consumption of different age groups analyzed.The value of Spearman Correlation Coefficient close to zero and not significant (r = 0.007; p = 0.923) confirms the absence of association between age and the frequency of consumption (Table 2).
Schooling can be classified as a determining factor in the consumption of soft crab meat, as in the consumption frequency comparison by level of education (p = 0.001), it was observed that the frequency of consumption increases as the consumer moves on education, and this trend is confirmed by the positive value of the Spearman correlation coefficient and statistically significant (r = 0.321; p <0.001) (Table 2).
The comparison the consumption frequency among individuals with different family monthly income (Table 2) shows the existence of significant differences (p <0.001), an upward trend was observed in the average rate of annual consumption as it increases the consumer's family income.This trend is confirmed by the positive value of the Spearman correlation coefficient and statistically significant (r = 0.590; p <0.001) (Table 2).a,b,c There are no significant differences between the groups with the same letter: p> 0.05 The sites described as preferred by consumers were respondents' own residences (n = 83%), but they also reported consuming at restaurants (n = 81%) and in cafeterias and snack kiosks (n = 13%), being the main forms of consumption the cone soft crab, risotto, stew, scone, pastry, fried, pancake, hamburger, and pizza.
It was demonstrated that the main factors that hinder the consumption of soft crab meat were associated with the difficulty to finding easily and also the issue of high price (Table 3).Simultaneous choices question.

DISCUSSION
Consumer gender is not a relevant factor for consumption of processed soft crab meat, since there were no significant differences between the consumption made by men and women, as well as there was no age-related consumption changes and consumer marital status.
Consumption patterns in general context, both individual and family, suffer changes over time depending on the individual's life cycle.According to the proposed by Hooley et al. (2005), commonly single and childless people tend to have greater freedom and availability to purchase goods and services, and also have the availability to consume more expensive foods such as the soft crab meat, just because they have financial commitments that compromise most significant part of their income.Contrary to this situation, according to Hooley et al. (2005) married and family people, have a greater restriction to purchase some goods in terms of their obligations to the these differences directly impact their consumption behavior, but these issues were not perceived as decisive in the consumption of soft crab meat, different from what occurred in other forms of feed.
Some factors that may be interfering in this change of soft crab meat consumer behavior can be linked to cultural variable, in this context fits, more specifically, consumer education level, as the study revealed that, as rises the level of education, rises the consumption of processed soft crab meat.
High levels of education, in a general context, expands consumers perception with what it interrelates in their day to day.The expansion of personal perception levels also influenced the buying behavior inherent to the occupation and to each individual's lifestyle, as also described by Blackwell et al. (2006), in which the authors report the direct relationship between the fact that the occupation interferes with the purchase of goods and services of the people and the lifestyle expresses the standard of living experienced by the individual considering their activities, interests and personal views, reflecting also in the forms of food eaten by him.
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), in relation to the level of education, consumers can be divided into four major groups: illiterates, people with high school, graduates and postgraduates.Each of these groups has its distinctions in habits, tastes, requirements degree, among other factors.These differences between these groups exist depending on the class distinctions that are existing in society, and the cohabitation between the groups can influence and stablish, therefore, their eating habits.
Food consumption in each class presents connection with schooling, as reported by Blackwell et al. (2006), so it is possible to identify different groups of consumers follow certain buying patterns, so, there is a specific supply and demand that can meet the needs and wishes linked to habits of each consumer' class.Thus, the level of education can be considered as a variable that affects the way people consume, choose their product to consume, and the perception as they see the status they can acquire.This variable can be related to Social Theory (KOTLER; KELLER, 2012), that, depending on the group that is inserted influence on customs and habits that the person has, and may stimulate new choices of the individual.
Specifically in the case of consumption of soft crab meat, these factors may be acting more intensely, as the delicacy is expensive when compared to similar, as has relative difficulty to be found, factors that can enhance the occurrence of the influence of collective behavior in individual consumption.
However, each level of education that the individual reaches refers to learning acquired by the same at all stages of life.Through this concept, people are able to change their habits and behaviors, thus coming to change their habits, acquiring new knowledge and cultures, a factor that is also reflected in the questions relating to feed.
It should also be considered that people with higher education can take better remunerated functions, and thus hold greater purchasing power in relation to others with lower level of education, it is clear that they have more access to certain goods and services, ensuring a higher standard of life, always looking for unique products that conform to their requirements and fit in their social status.Thus, Blackwell et al. (2009) describes that naturally in the mass of consumers, as higher is the level of education, higher is their income, and thus, it fits in a particular social group, who frequents the same places, consume the same products and has similar tastes.
In this context, according to Kotler and Keller (2012), income and its distribution, is one of the factors that should be considered by marketers since this is one of the indicators that determinate the expenses of the people according to their social class and their spending habits.
The social class term refers to the status level at which people and groups are classified according to their wealth and importance on people in certain groups, skill and power, and differ with regard to values and behavior associated to income.
Consumption of soft crab is linked to a targeted audience, which have higher income, and that consumes the delicacy more often, however, this condition may have been observed on the fact that the delicacy is a highlight food from specific restaurants that serve seafood, which have a high cost and can be linked to beyond the product flavor, as the status that the product can give to consumers' image.
This proposition is directly related to the concept of value perceived by the consumer, who can be both in the quality of food, in innovative ways that it can be being offered, and also the price that the product has.
The difference between desire and need that every consumer has is very variable.The needs are driven by the physical and psychological condition of each individual.But the desire is the satisfaction that a product can offer, raising the same physical and psychological conditions of each, making that wish come true, in the high income public, the consumer delivery itself more easily to the desire for consumption of soft crab meat, and in the case of low-income consumers, this fact only occurs in sporadic occasions.
Income segmentation in only one social class reveals preferences for products and services on a specific way.People with high incomes tend to purchase products with higher costs, or even to ensure its status, very different from people with low income, who seek basically products that will meet their needs, giving the luxury for special occasions.
Segmentation can guide the market producer in the composition of offers in relation to lower consumption classes, as noted in the case of classes D and C, which have less purchasing power.
In this context, the income analysis from family budget point of view, becomes important, since the economic variables are related to consumer purchasing power, because depending on the financial situation, people will rethink their spending and consuming only what their budget allows.
According to Anacleto et al. (2016) the supply of products with prices adjusted according to family income, allows the expansion of consumption levels.This assumption should be considered in the consumption increase process of processed soft crab meat.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The processed soft crab meat was consumed on average 2.69 times a year per consumer, and no changes were observed in consumption in relation to age, gender and marital status.
The cone soft crab is the preferred delicacy by consumers, the main products to replace when it is not found is fish and shrimp.
The main reasons reported that hinder a consumer to consume processed soft crab meat caught with cages were especially the price and the difficulty to find easily the product on the market.
The study revealed that consumer behavior is changed because of the economic class and education, and the measure that raises the levels of these factors also increases the consumption of processed soft crab meat.
It is recommended to carry out new studies to propose a new positioning of the product in the market, in order to raise the level of recognition of soft crab meat by consumers of seafood, thus the delicacy can become as influential as their traditional substitutes products.

Table 1 .
Comparison between genders and marital status about the number of times that consumed soft crab meat in the last 12 months (N = 177).

Table 2 .
Consumption frequency comparison by age, schooling and family month income (N = 177).

Table 3 .
Main factors that hinder the consumption of processed soft crab meat (n =177).