May 10, 2016

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has expanded the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification programme with the completion of the new BAP mollusk farm standards.

The standards encompass all major farmed mollusk species, including mussels, scallops, oysters, clams and abalone, and replace the existing BAP mussel farm standards. The BAP programme, the world's most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification programme, now encompasses virtually all aquaculture production systems for finfish, crustaceans and mollusks.

The BAP Standards Oversight Committee (SOC) unanimously approved the standards for release to the market in late April, followed by approval from the GAA board of directors.

A series of comments were received during the 60-day public feedback period, which ended on February 12. Comments were received from respondents that included farmers, producer associations and non-governmental organisations from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US.

"This represents a major milestone for the BAP programme, which now encompasses virtually all aquaculture production systems for finfish, crustaceans and mollusks. Congratulations are in order for Brian Kingzett and his technical committee for their painstaking efforts in creating a workable standard that can be applied globally to the full diversity of farmed mollusks," said BAP Standards Coordinator, Dan Lee.

The standards were prepared by the BAP mollusk technical committee, which was chaired by Kingzett. Committee members, who represent the global scope of mollusk farming both in terms of geography and species, met last year on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, in October and in St. Louis, Missouri, US, in July. The SOC - whose members represent a balance of stakeholders from industry, NGOs and academia - recommended refinements to the standards before approving them for release.

Currently, there are six sets of BAP standards - mollusk farm standards, finfish and crustacean farm standards, salmon farm standards, seafood processing plant standards, hatchery and nursery standards and feed mill standards.

At the end of March, there were 1,165 BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills worldwide.