First for BAP: Sea Cucumber Producer in China Earns Certification
China’s Dalian Bangchuidao Seafood Co. Ltd., also known as Bangchuidao, is the world’s first Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified sea cucumber producer after successfully certifying its full production chain, including its hatchery, farm and processing plant. Because sea cucumbers rely on the natural productivity of their surrounding environment for feeding, Bangchuidao is authorized to use the BAP four-star logo, indicating that the full production chain is BAP certified.
Bangchuidao is one of the first companies to convert traditional sea cucumber wild harvest into farming. By owning and developing the entire production chain, the company has been nationally recognized in China by the National Leading Enterprise of Agriculture Industrialization as leaders in developing sea cucumber farming practices.
“Our hatchery and plant cover more than 80,000 square meters. And there is one dock used for scientific research, a 12,000-cubic-meter land-based ecological pool, a 3.34 square kilometer core area for protospecies, and about 6.67-square-kilometer sea area used for bottom sowing proliferation,” said Mr. Wu Yanqiang, the general manager of Bangchuidao. “Bangchuidao takes an active part in the protection of sea cucumber protospecies by building and managing state-level stock seed farm. By now, the population numbers of sea cucumber have reached 1 million.”
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. The facilities of Bangchuidao are located near Dantuo Island. The sea cucumber is cultured via bottom sowing and isn’t fed with manufactured or prepared diets.
Bangchuidao products are offered at Walmart, Sam’s Club and Carrefour in China. Bangchuidao’s branded products are also available on e-commerce platforms like JD.com and Tmall.com and via distributors in areas like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and northeast China.
“Sea cucumber is another Chinese traditional species certified against BAP standards after crawfish and hairy crab. We see the work with Bangchuidao as an important input for the expansion and improvement of sustainable aquaculture into traditional Chinese species,” said GAA VP Dr. Steve Hart. “Bangchuidao should be commended for being proactive and recognizing the fact that sustainable aquaculture is the only way we can continue to provide safe, nutritious seafood to the world in the future. They put in a lot of hard work and effort to verify to the market that they are not only growing sea cucumber the right way, but that they also want to get even better over time. All of our team at GAA looks forward to continuing to work with the team at Bangchuidao to help them tell their story.”
Administered by GAA, BAP is the world’s most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification program, with standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal health and welfare, and traceability. The BAP program covers the entire aquaculture production chain — processing plants, hatcheries, farms and feed mills.
Through the end of October, there were 2,247 BAP-certified farms, processing plants, hatcheries and feed mills in 36 countries. Additionally, the BAP program has more than 150 retail and foodservice endorsers committed to sourcing seafood from BAP-certified facilities.
About BAP
A division of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain — farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills — that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means. BAP certification is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by GAA.
