COUNTY RANKINGS BY AVERAGE SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION


In order to identify any geographical patterns in Florida seafood consumption, the average (mean) seafood consumption
by randomly selected adults was calculated for each county and ranked. Note that these means are calculated over
the entire sample within each county, and not just those reporting consumption within the survey week. For the
county analyses, the state sample dataset was used for all counties except for five where paper mills are located.
Analyses for these counties were based upon a dataset of RSA's which contained 200 observations per county which
was initially obtained to provide a larger, more representative sample from relatively sparsely populated counties where
paper mills are found. Average seafood consumption calculations were done for each of the nine seafood groupings
and the means were taken across the entire sample of both eaters and non-eaters. The counties were then ranked from
highest to lowest average consumption and grouped according to their consumption levels. To facilitate the
identification of any geographical patterns, a map of Florida with the counties shaded according to their levels was used.
Figures 3-1 and 3-2 are general information maps showing county names and sample size per county, respectively.


Freshwater Bottom Feeders

Freshwater bottom feeders (freshwater catfish) appear to be consumed throughout the state with concentrations of higher
consumption in the central lakes area and scattered counties in the panhandle and northwest Florida (Figure 3-3 and
Table 3-1).


Freshwater Crustaceans

The consumption of freshwater crustaceans (freshwater crayfish) appears to be light and scattered throughout the state
with no areas of concentrated consumption (Figure 3-4 and Table 3-2).


Freshwater Predators

The consumption of freshwater predators (mainly largemouth bass) also appears to be scattered throughout the state.
Concentrations of higher consumption appear to be in Jackson/Gadsden counties (Lake Seminole and Lakes Talquin
and Jackson), Madison county, Gilchrist county (Suwannee River), and Charlotte county (Figure 3-5 and Table 3-3).


Marine Crustaceans

Marine crustaceans (mainly shrimp), though not to the extent of marine finfish, are also eaten rather uniformly
throughout the state. Areas of higher average consumption appear to be around the Choctawhatchee Bay-St. Joseph's
Bay area and Apalachicola River, the Steinhatchee-Waccasassa Bay area, southwest Florida and the Keys, the central
Florida intercoastal waterway area and around the mouth the of St. Johns River (Figure 3-6 and Table 3-4).


Marine Finfish

Marine finfish appear to be eaten quite widely throughout the state. As expected, the highest consumption averages are
along the coast and the counties with lower consumption are those that are landlocked (Figure 3-7 and Table 3-5).