Blue Waters LLC Oman, which produces seabream (Sparus aurata) in the Gulf of Oman, has achieved Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) has confirmed.
The farm, which comprises circular cages off the coast of Qurayyat about 100km south of Muscat, is Oman’s first facility to attain BAP certification. It has been in operation since 2016 and is expected to produce 2,350 tonnes of fish this year.
“Achieving the BAP certification is a major achievement, which documents that Blue Waters is an internationally recognised producer of high quality sustainable farmed fish,” Blue Waters CEO, Nabeel Al Ruwaidhi, said.
While Blue Waters’ fingerlings are currently imported live from hatcheries in Europe, the company is in the process of building its own hatchery in Oman, scheduled to open in late 2022.
Its seabream is sold as chilled whole fish to retail customers in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
Blue Waters is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fisheries Development Oman (FDO). FDO was formed by Oman Investment Authority (OIA), Oman’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries Wealth (MAFW).
This latest certification takes the total number of BAP-certified facilities in the Middle East to four. The other three are in Saudi Arabia and include a tilapia farm and hatchery operated by Rasheed Al Ballaa and a feed mill operated by Maram Feed Mill Co.
