Updated BAP Farm Standard Includes New Requirements on Antimicrobials, Social Accountability, Wildlife Protection
Issue 3.0 of the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Farm Standard has been released to the public, the Global Aquaculture Alliance announced on March 1.
The renamed BAP Farm Standard replaces Issue 2.4 of the BAP Finfish and Crustacean Farm Standard and adds a number of new requirements under BAP’s four pillars of sustainability — food safety, social accountability, environmental responsibility and animal welfare. The new standard covers all feed-fed finfish and crustacean species. However, separate sets of standards continue to exist for salmonids raised in marine net pens (covered by the BAP Salmon Farm Standard) and unfed mollusk species such as mussels, clams and oysters (covered by the BAP Mollusk Standard).
Issue 3.0 of the BAP Farm Standard will be mandatory for new and re-certifying facilities as of March 1, 2022. They were released after a 60-day public comment period that expired on Sept. 26, 2020. Comments were received from a total of 43 individuals and organizations.
The new requirements in Issue 3.0 of the BAP Farm Standard include:
• A ban on antimicrobials designated as critically important for human medicine by the World Health Organization
• Additional social accountability clauses related to equality and worker safety
• Additional wildlife protection clauses about acoustic deterrent devices and entanglement
• Clarity on metrics such as feed conversion ratio, fish in/fish out ratio and effluent nutrient loads
• Specific consideration for environmental requirements for reservoir/lake-based cage farms, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and coastal flow-through farms
• The scope of Issue 3.0 includes “fed” mollusks such as abalone as well as sea cucumbers and other aquatic invertebrates grown in land-based facilities
Issue 3.0 of the BAP Farm Standard can be viewed in its entirety here.
Stakeholders interested in learning more about Issue 3.0 of the BAP Farm Standard are encouraged to attend a webinar on March 11 providing an overview of the updates to the standard. The live session will be recorded and available on demand.
About BAP
A division of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved performance standards for the entire aquaculture production chain – including processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills. BAP standards cover environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety and animal welfare. The BAP program is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by GAA.
