“Possibility of Consumer Education in the Direct-Shipment-from-Producer Movement:

Computer Mediated Communiccation between Fishermen and Consumers”

Abstract

Environmental advocacy takes various forms. In the case of Kawabe River, people have been performing " Shaku Ayu (big sweet fishes) Trust". Fishermen and residents sell famous sweet fishes directly to supporters from all over Japan are interested in preserving Kawabe River, and fresh sweet fishes are sent directly to them. This research considers the " Shaku Ayu Trust" movement, how people get support successfully and effectively and how consumers can share environmental problems. The influences of questionnaires, their results, articles and reports in the media are also discussed. The mechanism of how consumers share environmental problems and support that movement buying fishes, and the process of purchasing reliability in the Kawabe River sweet fish are also discussed. The key point of whether the movement can get reliability or not depends on direct communication among fishermen and consumers through computer mediated communication(CMC).