Estimation of Fish supply in fish markets in Golestan Province

This study evaluated the supply of fish in Golestan province by designing a questionnaire. For data analysis, Friedman, Kruskal Wallis, and Mann Whitney u test were used. The results showed that the per capita consumption of fish sellers was 62 kg. The total area of fish shops was 1431 square meters, and 225 people directly worked there. 44.4% of the total fish sales were retail sales. About 89% of fish was supplied by brokers through two types of supply chains for farmed fish and one chain for marine fish, each with 3 brokers levels. The average daily sales of any fish shop are between 45 and 530 kg. About 56% of the province's fish are exported, and 16.6% of marine fish and 34.4% of farmed fish are provided from outside the province. The sellers under the age of 35 believed that advertising is the main factor in selling the fish.  sellers with high school diplomas or lower education believed that fish quality and freshness are the main effective factors in sales, but sellers with education higher than high school diplomas believed the factors i.e., the amount of fish waste, promotion and fish size in sales. Sellers with more than 16 years of sales experience considered fish size as an important factor in sales. Therefore, in addition to optimizing the market facilities due to the export of fish to other provinces, it is necessary to pay attention to the needs and priorities of the province's residents according to the findings of Golestan fish sellers.