When seafood veteran Mike Berthet retires from his long-held position as fish and seafood director with leading UK foodservice company M&J Seafood later this month, he has no intention of hanging up his hat.
Instead, he will take on another mantle as market development manager of UK foodservice for the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and the organization’s Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) standards.
“I joined the board of directors of GAA in 2014 and am now looking forward to the challenge of my new part-time role, encouraging greater uptake of responsibly farmed fish and shellfish,” he said. “The responsible raising of aquaculture protein around the world is paramount. There is no discussion needed. We have to carefully grow, farm, harvest and feed as much seafood as is environmentally and ethically sustainable over future generations if we are to avert severe global famine. Explaining the complexities to our many thousands of chefs and colleagues in the foodservice industry about how we can do this in a well-regulated and assured manner, is how I see that role with the GAA.”
Berthet has developed a presentation for chefs that includes a comparison chart of three aquaculture certification programs; BAP, ASP and GAP.
“BAP is the only one that takes the process right from sea to plate by including certification for farms, hatcheries, feed mills and processing plants, with elements for food safety, environmental responsibility, traceability, animal health and welfare, worker safety and social responsibility, as well as a consumer-facing logo that is growing in recognition.”
“Today, around half of the fish consumed worldwide is farmed. By 2030, it is predicted that 62 percent of food fish will come from aquaculture and that to meet the world’s seafood needs, aquaculture production will need to increase by 46.4 million metric tons,” he said.
“BAP standards are based on a star system, with 4-star the highest. Other standards do not have an equivalent beyond 2-star and I am making it my mission to encourage industry to request products from BAP-certified facilities that are at least 3-star BAP rating, so that we can raise the bar by leading from the front. There are very few certified facilities at present in Europe, but with a growing interest from buyers, we can redress the balance,” he said.
Berthet explained that the BAP finfish and crustacean farm standards cover a multitude of species, which give chefs a wide choice of menu items. These include barramundi, pangasius, salmon, shrimp, tilapia, trout, carp, seabass and sea bream, seriola and turbot.
A natural orator and with a passion for his subject, Berthet is anxious to start engaging with chefs and processors and to continue making his mark on the nations’ menus.
To assist in his task, Berthet has put together an aquaculture seafood glossary, using simple explanations to demystify the subject for chefs. He has included terms such as ablation, deveined, harvested, hand-gathered, sea ranching and trash fish.
“I wanted to strip it right down to basics, and to build up their knowledge so that different seafoods can be purchased with confidence,” he said.
Berthet, a qualified chef and further education teacher, is happy that he is leaving a legacy from his previous role, where he put several hundred chefs through 2-hour masterclasses on seafood sustainability. He is also taking his interest in education a step further by participating in the setup of an online education program being put in place by the Responsible Aquaculture Foundation (RAF), a charitable organization established by GAA that is currently headed up by GAA president George Chamberlain.
“The aim of the RAF is to offer multilingual education and training in support of responsible aquaculture, principally provided over the internet, but also through local workshops organized by regional supporters and partners,” Berthet said.
RAF’s online education program will initially focus on health management for shrimp facilities and on seafood safety. The first course on early mortality syndrome in shrimp is being launched this week.
“It will be an exciting and busy year ahead, but it will also leave me time to work on that golf handicap,” quipped Berthet.
