The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program upgraded two-, three- and four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) tilapia as equivalent to its yellow “Good Alternative” rating.
“Seafood Watch has been working closely with BAP to ensure that we can confidently defer to BAP two, three and four-star certified tilapia as reflective of current industry best practice,” Lisa Tucker, aquaculture program manager for Seafood Watch, told SeafoodSource.
Recently updated language the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s BAP Finfish and Crustacean Standard now allows Seafood Watch to recognize tilapia certified to the standard as equivalent to the organization’s Good Alternative rating, Tucker added.
“We’re elated that Seafood Watch is now recommending to businesses and consumers that two-, three- and four-star BAP tilapia is a Good Alternative,” said Chris Trosin, vice president of BAP business development. “We work with a lot of retailers and foodservice operators in North America who also use the Seafood Watch recommendations as a guide in their responsible sourcing decisions.”
Seafood Watch also recently upgraded Colombian net pen-raised tilapia to the yellow Good Alternative rating. And Colombia’s tilapia industry has embraced the BAP program, BAP said in a blog post.
In addition to the tilapia, Seafood Watch also recognizes two-, three- and four-star BAP pangasius; three- and four-star BAP shrimp; and mussels from a BAP-certified farm as equivalent to a yellow, Good Alternative rating.
“We are very excited to have this relationship with GAA BAP, and look forward to continued collaboration,” Tucker said. “Working together, we can continue to improve global aquaculture practices, and meet growing demand from consumers and businesses for more responsibly farmed seafood."
