The Global Aquaculture Alliance promotes Best Aquaculture Practices certification at shrimp hatcheries, farms, and processors throughout the world. Additional certification standards are under development for several species of fish -- participate in public comment on proposed standards. The following articles reflect GAA's most recent activities related to the BAP program.

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Revised Standards Process Includes Oversight Committee
Based on stakeholder input from around the world, the Global Aquaculture Alliance has modified the process by which it develops the Best Aquaculture Practices standards to include a Standards Oversight Committee (SOC). The 12-person committee -- composed of a balance of stakeholders from industry, nongovernmental conservation and social justice organizations, and academic/regulatory groups -- is involved in most aspects of the standards.
 
Input from early stakeholders resulted in a draft of the BAP standards process posted online for public comment through February 29. NGOs such as the Environmental Defense Fund and New England Aquarium, as well as individuals, participated in the comment process. A number of their suggestions were integrated into the revised development process.
 
SOC Functions
The SOC functions in a position between the BAP technical committees that draft standards and the GAA board of directors, which has final approval of the standards. With a central role in the standards development process, it can nominate and approve technical committee members and chairpersons, suggest further improvements in the BAP process and help set overarching goals for the program.
 
The SOC receives draft copies of initial standards and may provide input as the technical committees evaluate and expand upon the early content. Once the technical committee members reach consensus on a committee draft, that documentation is posted online for public comment. Members of the Standards Oversight Committee are encouraged to submit comments during this process.
 
After public comment, the BAP technical committees consider the proposed changes and generate "final" drafts that must be approved by the members. Approved final drafts then proceed to an SOC review and vote.
 
The SOC must approve standards via a vote by at least eight committee members -- including at least two representatives from each of the three primary stakeholder groups -- or return them for further revision to the technical committees. The Standards Oversight Committee cannot modify the standards or apply "line item vetoes," but can pass on a "minority report" for approved standards.
 
Final drafts confirmed by SOC ballot are forwarded to the GAA board of directors for its approval. Board-approved standards are then implemented by the Aquaculture Certification Council.
 
Committee Membership
Over the past several months, a diverse group of nominees to serve on the SOC have been submitted for consideration. The initial 12 members of the Standards Oversight Committee will be appointed by the GAA board to three-year terms. The first SOC chairperson will be appointed to a one-year term. After that time, the chair will be elected by members of the SOC.
 
Once established later this spring, the SOC will begin to work with BAP Standards Coordinator Daniel Lee in examining pending standards. The committee will also review earlier standards in the BAP process of continuous improvement.
 
GAA, ACC Join Sustainable
Fisheries Tilapia Committee
Representatives of the Global Aquaculture Alliance and Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC), which accredits evaluators to perform audits based on GAA's Best Aquaculture Practices standards, have joined a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) committee to establish methods for evaluating certification systems for tilapia farms.
 
BAP Standards Coordinator Daniel Lee and ACC Vice President William More will work with representatives of GlobalGAP and the World Wildlife Fund Tilapia Aquaculture Dialogue (TAD) on guidelines for examining the application of BAP's draft standards for tilapia farms as well as those of GlobalGAP and TAD.
 
According to the SFP website, the intent of the audits is to test the various standards criteria at the farm level and "determine if the standards are achievable, auditable and sufficiently objective." SFP will also compare the standards development processes, governance and other aspects of the three certification systems.
 
The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership is preparing to perform side-by-side audits of 10 farms for each program. The body is now identifying potential participating farms in Asia and Central and South America that would represent a cross section of production methods and scale.
 
Lee Chosen for IFFO Technical Committee
BAP Standards Coordinator Daniel Lee has been selected to represent aquaculture interests on the new International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation (IFFO) Technical Advisory Committee. The committee will advise IFFO as it establishes a Code of Responsible Practice (CORP) for responsible fishmeal and fish oil production.
 
IFFO documents indicate adherence to the code will allow producers to demonstrate good manufacturing practices, including HACCP programs that cover possible contaminants. They will also be able to show that the raw fish from which fishmeal and fish oil are derived came from fisheries managed in accordance with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Responsible Fishing, not illegal or unregulated fisheries. Traceability will be another element of the program.
 
"The CORP will not be an ecolabel in competition with existing ecolabels," IFFO said. "It is a business-to-business tool to demonstrate and further encourage responsible practices in the industry for the benefit of the value chain."
 
The committee is due to meet in May and October. After IFFO board approval, the CORP could proceed through trial audits, with full implementation expected in late 2009.
 
BAP Meetings Scheduled at European Seafood Exposition
The Global Aquaculture Alliance had plenty of BAP-related activities scheduled for late April at the European Seafood Exposition, the largest seafood event in the world, in Brussels, Belgium.
 
On April 23, GAA Vice President Bill Herzig and Best Aquaculture Practices Standards Coordinator Daniel Lee were to participate in a roundtable discussion on "Sustainability: Today and Tomorrow." This moderator-led panel, which also included representatives of other organizations at the forefront of the sustainability movement, was to discuss where sustainability is today and where it may be headed.
 
Later on April 23, GAA was to hold another in its continuing series of stakeholder meetings on the Best Aquaculture Practices standards. New BAP standards for tilapia farms are approaching completion, and standards for feed mills and other species are under development. Another standards meeting will take place at the October 28-31 GOAL 2008 meeting in Qingdao, China.
 
Lee and other GAA officers had also planned several meetings in Brussels to discuss synergies between BAP and other certification programs like GlobalGAP.