BAP

Program Introduction:

BAP, the full title for Best Aquaculture Practices, is a division of the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA), it is a seafood-specific certification program that addresses the four key areas of responsible seafood—environmental, social, food safety, and animal health & welfare—at each step of the aquaculture production chain. Besides, the requirement for product traceability also ensures that consumer-facing products carrying the BAP logo can be traced back to the certified source.

Note1: GSA, formerly known as the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), was founded in 1997, it is an international non-profit organization who dedicates to promote the responsible development of aquaculture. In 2021, it officially rebranded its name as the Global Seafood Alliance. The Best Seafood Practices (BSP) module has been added, and the scope of work has been expanded from the original aquaculture industry to the whole seafood industry that includes both cultured and wild-caught products.

BAP certification covers the whole industry chain of feed mill, hatchery, farm and processing plant, and uses a unique “star-based” ranking system to identify the certification status of the upstream industry chain of processed aquatic products.

 

Note 2: The Seafood Processing Standard (SPS) includes requirements for both aquaculture and wild-caught aquatic products. It is the common BAP and BSP standard (see the figure below). Applicants can choose BAP or BSP certification based on the type of processed aquatic products (cultured or wild-caught).

BAP Standards

Besides SPS, BAP standards also include Hatchery Standard, Feed Mill Standard and Farm Standard, according to the differences of culture environment and species, the farm standards are divided into:

BAP Farm Standard-- apply to the farming of finfish, crustaceans, and other aquatic invertebrates.

BAP Mollusk Farms Standard-- apply to the culture of molluscan shellfish, including all species of bivalves, such as clams, cockles, geoducks, oysters, scallops, and mussels, but excluding grazing gastropods (whelks, abalone)

Salmon Farms Standard -- apply to the cage and net pen production in marine waters of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), Chinook Salmon (Onchorynchus tshawytscha), Coho Salmon (Onchorynchus kisutch); and Rainbow Trout (Onchorynchus mykiss).

BAP Certification

BAP certification is different from most other third-party certifications, application, selection of certification body and issue of reports & certificates are performed by the BAP, certification bodies is mainly responsible for arranging on-site audit and making the certification decision. Certification fees (including the application fee, audit fee and program fee) are also charged by BAP. You can consult the ESTS business staff about fee rates before applying for certification.

The main certification process is as below:

Application for Certification:

Contact the ESTS Business staff to assist you with the account registration and application process.

BAP Logo Use Requirements

After the applicant obtains the corresponding BAP certificate, the BAP logo can be used on their product packaging (see the following figure). The star designation logos are only applicable to certified processors, re-processors and repackers. As for the specific conditions of logo usage and other usage such as off-pack usage, please follow the BAP Logo Use Requirements (downloadable via the link below).

Other information:

BAP standards and relevant documents can be downloaded here: https://www.bapcertification.org/StandardsBAP Logo Use Requirements

https://www.bapcertification.org/WhatWeDo/ProgramIntegrity

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