Top Vietnamese shrimp producer earns BAP group certification

One of Vietnam’s largest shrimp producers has become the second seafood operation across all species to complete the new Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) group farm program.

Stapimex (Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company) has become the first shrimping outfit to successfully tackle the program, announced the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) – the Vietnamese producer has certified six of its farm sites located within the Soc Trang province thanks in part to a sponsorship from U.S.-based company National Fish & Seafood.

The process involved a subset number of Stapimex’s farms being audited. To apply for the program, the producer had to apply and demonstrate “strict and consistent internal controls across all of its operations,” noted GAA.

“We are extremely pleased that the first shrimp farm group has achieved international recognition through BAP certification,” said Jeff Sedacca, president of National Fish & Seafood’s shrimp division. “This historic milestone will make it possible for the thousands of smallholder shrimp farms around the world to meet the environmental and social standards of the BAP program and achieve certification gaining access to international markets. This project has been the result of a year-and-a-half collaboration between Stapimex, National Fish & Seafood and GAA. National Fish & Seafood is grateful for the hard work of everyone involved in this project.”

“We are delighted to see this milestone reached and commend the hard work put in by both National Fish and Stapimex to achieve the group certification,” added Peter Redmond, BAP’s VP of market development. “Vehicles like group certification are imperative for the future growth of responsible, certified aquaculture. There are literally hundreds of thousands of farms around the world, and not having this type of program severely limits the ability for any certification program to be effective beyond the ‘top’ farms. We applaud this effort and look forward to using this model extensively going forward.”

Stapimex joins Marine Harvest Canada in earning the newfound BAP distinction.

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