# Identifying Emerging Issues in the Seafood Industry Based on a Text Mining Approach
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Word Cloud
#### 3.1.2 Individual Countries  
We conducted country-by-country comparisons for selected countries to see whether there were any country-specific issue trends. From our full sample incorporating eleven countries--namely, China, South Korea, and Japan from East Asia; Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam from Southeast Asia; France, Italy, and Spain from Europe; and Canada and the US from North America--we report the results from only four countries, China,Thailand, France, and the US (we report only four country results to keep the discussion concise; word clouds for these countries are presented in Figure 3, the full report on all eleven countries is available from the authors upon request).  
In China, 2019 was a year when the US-China trade dispute intensified. Thus, the year's popular issue was _tarifs_, followed by _health_ and _protein_. In 2020, _coronavirus_ was by far the most mentioned keyword, followed by _health_ and then _SARS_. In 2021, these three keywords continued to dominate. However, the popularity of _coronavirus_ had slightly decreased, with _health_ being mentioned as much as _coronavirus_, while mentions of _SARS_ remained at a similar level as in 2020. Meanwhile, in the second half of 2021, disruptions in the supply chains brought more attention to _logistics_ as an emerging issue. In 2022, with the changing perception of aquatic food, interests in _food safety_ and _sustainability_ were added to the existing interest in _health_ functions. Moreover, continuing supply chain disruptions, currently due to the Russia-Ukraine war, kept _logistics_ on the list.  
As for Thailand's keywords, in 2019, _soup_ related to _Thai_ food culture was mentioned the most, followed by _snacks_, _health_, and _sustainability_. For 2020 and 2021, as in other countries, _coronavirus_ and _health_-related keywords received the most attention. Interests in _disinfection_ and _precautions_ during 2020, as well as in _shrimp_, _tuna_, _food safety_, and _sustainability_ during 2021, were significantly high. In 2022, _health_ and _protein_ were mentioned the most, and interest in the _fishmeal market_ was high, which might have reflected expectations of the recovery of the seafood processing industry as the pandemic spread subsided. Additionally, an accident on Thailand's eastern coast increased the mentions of _oil spill_.  
In France, during 2019, along with _tariffs_ and _health_, keywords related to greenhouse gas (per _capita emissions_) received high attention as discussions of net zero by 2050 developed. In 2020, the issues of _coronavirus_ and _health_ dominated, but keywords regarding food processing (_food market_, _food processing_, and _food automation_) also received frequent mentions. Throughout 2021, pandemic issues were still dominant, alongside growing interest in the _health supplements market_. The year 2022 was marked by the public's attention to seafood as a _ketogenic_ food in relation to _health_ as well as interest in _food safety_ and _wastewater treatment_.  
In the US, in 2019, keywords such as _health_, _diet_, _fats_, _vitamin_, _vegetariamism_, _food safety_, and the US-China trade-war-related _tariffs_ received high attention. In 2020 and 2021, like in other countries, the focus was mostly on _coronavirus_, _health_, and _SARS_. In 2021, along with the changing perception of resource management and environmental pollution, the mention counts of _sustainability_ and _plastic_ rose rapidly. Also, keywords on seafood variety (_salmon_, _squid_, and _tuna_) regained some attention. In 2022, _tariffs_ made it back to the list. Unlike in 2019, this time this was due to the US sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, several war- and sanctions-related keywords such as _Zelensky_, _Belarus_, _Russia_, _MFN_ (most favored nation), _sanctions_, and _seafood alcohol_ appeared along with conventional seafood-related keywords like _health_, _food market_, _protein_, _salmon_, and _flight catering_.  
Figure 2: Word cloud for the top 200 words in the entire sample.