Extensive Black Tiger Shrimp Farm in Indonesia Earns BAP Certification
The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program is proud to announce that Rai Seafoods Limited and the Anggana Farmer Association of Indonesia have earned BAP certification.
Rai Seafoods’ network of extensive black tiger shrimp farms in East Kalimantan, Borneo, attained BAP certification in early April. In total, eight sub-groups consisting of 31 farms were certified as a group under the new Farm and Hatchery Group Program Policy and Control Document Issue 1.0, which was released in December 2018. This is the first set of farms certified under the latest version of this policy and control document. Initially, the farms went through the iBAP improvement program, in preparation for BAP certification.
The shrimp are raised in a traditional, extensive environment, spanning 49,000 hectares of mangrove forests. Rai Seafoods and the Anggana Farmer Association have been actively involved mangrove reforestation for years, planting mangroves in and around the ponds, acting as an ideal ecosystem for the shrimp.
“We spent almost three years working on this project from the ground up, organizing the farmers and implementing the quality management system at each farm. I would not say that it has been easy, but the commitment, drive and passion helped us through some challenging and difficult times. It was worth it in the end,” said Rosida Idriss, founder and director of Rai Seafoods.
Rai Seafoods was the subject of GAA Films’ fifth documentary short film, “A Different Light.”
The company will be presented with its BAP certificate during a brief ceremony at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium, at GAA stand 7-1405 on Tuesday, May 7, at 3 p.m.
Currently, there are more than 90 BAP-certified facilities in Indonesia, consisting of shrimp and tilapia farms, processing plants, hatcheries and feed mills. BAP added 156 new facilities to the program in the first quarter of 2019, ending with a total of 2,430 facilities in 34 countries and six continents.
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. Additionally, the program is compliant with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP) and GSSI.
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 the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
