Daniel E. Kauffman

Specialist

Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension

Expertise: Economics

 

Phone: 757-727-4861 FAX: 757-727-4871 e-mail:

Research Interests
Business management, marketing and economics as they relate to the seafood industry.

Personal Information
Dr. Kauffman works in extension and does applied research particularly in the marketing area. Prior to returning to Virginia Tech he worked in the commercial seafood industry for more than 15 years. Then he was involved in business management of seafood operation and marketing of seafood products to both food service and retail companies. His work now focuses on finding new markets for seafood and better managing industry assets. He holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University and an M.S. from Columbia University.

Current Projects
Marketing of Tilapia
American tilapia farmers have sold most of their fish in live markets because foreign cost of production advantages precluded them from other markets. On the East Coast most of these sales have been in New York and Toronto and Atlanta. Working with the U.S. Aquaculture Cooperative, Kauffman has shown that the market can be expanded by marketing to Latinos in Washington, D.C. Further work is now being undertaken to see how the market can be expanded in other cities.

New Ways to Market Summer Flounder
In conjunction with a distributor on the Eastern Shore, a flow through tank was built for the purpose of holding live flounder. After holding and conditioning the flounder the distributor was able to sell them for more than he could have gotten in traditional markets. Fishermen providing fish were also paid a premium. All of the successfully marketed fish were from pound nets. Work is now underway to see if other catching methods can also successfully provide fish to this marketing channel.

Management of Summer Flounder Openings for Increased Revenue
In areas where they are caught, states receive a "quota" of flounder from the National Marine Fisheries Service. When the "quota" is caught is up to the states. If demand for flounder is higher at certain times of the year, it makes sense to skew the seasonal openings towards those periods. Currently states do not have information on this seasonality of demand. In 2005, in conjunction with other faculty members in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Tech, a study will test econometrically if this seasonality exists. If is does, a system will be then be designed that could help regulators better manage openings so that consumers more nearly get flounder when they want them and fishermen receive more revenue from their catch.