Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)

What Are Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)? A set of standards developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance to support the development and quality of seafood farming.

What Do BAP Standards Cover? Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) cover environmental, social responsibility, animal welfare and farming facility standards. BAP certification defines the most important elements of responsible aquaculture and provides quantitative methods to assess conformity to these practices.

The BAP programme has developed standards for hatcheries, feed mills and farm processing facilities. It now applies to nearly every production system, including shellfish. New standards also include high-volume species such as sea bass, sea bream and trout.

Certification Process. Farms, processing facilities, hatcheries and feed mills meet the requirements defined by the standard before applying to the BAP programme. After that, application for the certification audit can be made. First BAP Certification Step;

• The standard is obtained according to fish species.
• Under the BAP standard, the production facility and documentation are aligned with the standard.
• A pre-audit is available as an option.
• Audit planning.
• Closing any nonconformities.
• BAP Certificate issuance.

Traceability. Traceability is also a core part of the Best Aquaculture Practices certification process. Every input and output in the production chain is linked so that product origin can be traced back. Traceability shows that every stage of the production process is aligned with environmental, social and food safety standards. Every certified facility holds the data needed to document the required information in electronic or paper form.

Certified Facilities. Best Aquaculture Practices assessment uses a Star System. The categorisation is as follows:

• 2 Stars: farms and processing facilities.
• 3 Stars: farm, plant and hatchery.
• 4 Stars: feed mills.
• Processing facilities.
• Repackaging facilities.
• Feed mills.

BAP Annual Renewal. Best Aquaculture Practices is valid for 1 year from the last certification approval date. On-site monitoring and review take place each subsequent year. Recertification covers a 30 to 60 day window.

After initial certification, the facility pays an annual surveillance inspection fee based on production volume. Minimum and maximum values are set by facility type.

You can consult Eurocert specialists on any question about Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP).