The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification programme experienced robust growth in 2013 in terms of the number of BAP-certified facilities and the volume of product from those facilities on the market, reports the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA).
Last year, the BAP programme experienced a 31% increase in the number of facilities certified, a 29% increase in the volume of product originating from BAP-certified processing plants and a 57% increase in the volume of product originating from BAP-certified farms.
The annual output from BAP-certified processing plants totalled 1.392 million metric tons (MT) as of 31 December 2013, up from 1.076MT at the end of 2012 — a 29.4% increase. The number of BAP-certified plants jumped from 210 at the end of 2012 to 248 at the end of 2013.
Meanwhile, the annual output from BAP-certified farms totalled 751,000MT as of 31 December 2013, up from 478,000MT at the end of 2012 — a 57.1% increase.
The number of BAP-certified farms jumped from 248 at the end of 2012 to 352 at the end of 2013. Additionally, the number of BAP-certified hatcheries and feed mills totalled 28 and 21, respectively.
Much of the growth within the BAP program in 2013 came from salmon. Last year, the output from BAP-certified salmon farms more than doubled, to more than 439,000MT, while the output from BAP-certified salmon processing plants more than tripled in 2013, to more than 453,000MT.
Progress also came in standards development in 2013, with new BAP finfish and crustacean farm standards completed in April, and new BAP mussel farm standards finalised in August. The mussel farm standards will be used as a template to develop broader mollusk farm standards for clams, oysters, scallops, abalone and other species.
