Saving Seafood

Growing BAP hoping to expand in China, riding coattails of growing US soy imports

January 31, 2022 — Eighteen years after a shrimp farm in Belize became the first Best Aquaculture Practices-certified facility, the program continues to grow at a healthy rate and is eyeing expansion into China.

The Global Seafood Alliance’s BAP third-party certification program grew 8.6 percent in 2021, ending the year with 3,169 BAP-certified facilities in six continents and 39 countries, up from 2,918 BAP-certified facilities at the end of 2020, according to the organization.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Best Aquaculture Practices certifications up 15 percent in 2019

March 2, 2020 — The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification program continued to grow in 2019, with 2,681 BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills worldwide by the end of the year. That’s up almost 15 percent from the program’s 2018 count, according to the GAA’s annual report.

Created by the GAA in 2008, BAP has the mission of providing quantitative guidelines for evaluations of best practices in aquaculture.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

GAA grants coronavirus-related extensions to Chinese facilities seeking BAP certification

February 20, 2020 — The Global Aquaculture Alliance, which operates the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, has announced an extension period for Chinese seafood companies in the process of applying for BAP certification.

A statement from GAA Communications Manager Steven Hedlund said the extension was granted as a result of the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, which has disrupted business in China.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Labor Abuse in Shrimp Peeling Sheds in Thailand Showed US Importers Asleep at the Switch

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — December 22, 2015 — The recent announcement by the Thai Shrimp Association that all shrimp peeling will be brought in house by major processors, and that use of third party peeling sheds will be discontinued, is not a ‘win’ for the shrimp industry.

Instead it shows that many have been asleep at the switch, and the safeguards put in place such as audits and certifications, have been inadequate.  However, several US importers say that they had already taken steps to safeguard their supply chain against labor abuse.

Jeff Sedacca, President of the shrimp division of National Fish & Seafood said, “We saw many years ago that Thai safeguards were not adequate, so we took proactive steps to create, implement, and enforce safeguards of our own, including discontinuation of peeling sheds in 2010 and advocating for expansion of fair labor practices required for BAP certification.”

Sedacca says his company has fully committed to the BAP program, and is one of the largest four star shrimp suppliers in the US.

In Thailand, National intends to gain four star certification in the First Quarter of this year, when the new feedmill and hatchery to supply many of their farms gets its certification.  The feed mill and hatchery has been operating this year, but has to build up a production record prior to being inspected by BAP auditors.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.