GSA certification programmes grow 5%
Global Seafood Alliance’s (GSA) third-party certification programmes Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and Best Seafood Practices (BSP) grew 5% in 2024, ending the year with a total of 4,168 facilities in 45 countries. The overall retention rate was 88 percent.
Of the total 4,168 facilities, 540 are processing plants (including farmed and wild capture), 3,132 are farms (including fallow), 346 are hatcheries and 150 are feed mills. Certified plants reported more than 3.2 million metric tons of annual production.
Additionally, GSA ended the year with nine certified vessels.
According to the international, non-profit trade association, certified producers made many improvements to their operations in 2024 to attain certification to its standards.
It highlighted that non-conformities found during the audit must be addressed by the producer to attain certification and that during 2024, processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills made a total of 8,212 improvements, including 2,602 addressing food safety, 2,566 addressing social accountability, 2,229 addressing environmental responsibility, 495 addressing animal welfare and 320 addressing traceability.
“These results reflect the seafood industry’s commitment to responsible practices and continuous improvement, as well as the dedication of the entire GSA team and our partners,” GSA CEO Mike Kocsis said. “With more than 8,200 improvements made by certified producers to their operations, we see firsthand the real-world impact of GSA’s standards and the commitment of producers to driving positive change across the global seafood supply chain.”
2024 had a number of firsts for GSA, including the first four-star BAP-certified producer in the Faroe Islands, the first BAP-certified farm and hatchery in southern Africa, and the first BAP-certified mangrove shrimp farms.
