Acuicola Gemso S.A. de C.V. is Mexico’s first tilapia farm to attain Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) announced on Monday.
A partner of Tropical Aquaculture Products based in Rutland, Vt., USA, the farm uses a cage system in the Plutarco Elias Calles “El Novillo” Reservoir, east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The facility earned BAP certification last month. Several of Tropical’s partner farms have earned BAP certification.
Founded nearly five years ago, Gemso partnered with Tropical early last year, when it began exporting fresh tilapia to the U.S. West Coast. The farm is only 16 hours from Los Angeles by truck.
The fish are processed at a nearby plant equipped to process deep-skinned, fully trimmed tilapia fillets and whole fish. A new, state-of-the-art processing plant is under construction and set to open early this year.
