BAP Program Nearing 1,700 Certified Facilities
Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) added 170 new facilities to the third-party certification program in the first half of 2017, bringing the total number of BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills to 1,671 worldwide, the Global Aquaculture Alliance announced in early July.
Of those 170 new facilities, 42 are processing plants, 100 are farms, 13 are hatcheries and 15 are feed mills. Shrimp farms (46) and salmon farms (33) represented the majority of the 100 farms added the BAP program in the first half of 2017.
Demonstrating the industry’s long-term commitment to responsible aquaculture, the BAP program has more than doubled in size in the past two years, growing from about 700 BAP-certified facilities at the end of 2014 to 1,500-plus facilities by the end of 2016.
There were a total of 388 processing plants, 1,029 farms, 173 hatcheries and 87 feed mills in the BAP program at the end of June.
As for volume, the 388 BAP-certified processing plants collectively produce about 2 million metric tons of shrimp, salmon, tilapia, pangasius and other farmed seafood species annually. The 1,029 388 BAP-certified farms produce more than 1.68 million metric tons of product.
BAP is the world’s most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification program, with aquaculture standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal health and welfare and traceability. It’s also the only program to cover the entire aquaculture production chain — processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills.
