It is announced that catfish farms can now participate in Best Aquaculture Practices certification. Like the BAP standards for shrimp farms, the channel catfish standards address environmental and social responsibility, food safety and traceability through quantitative guidelines and auditing procedures. The authority has told that two new standards added for catfish farms will also be applied in pending revisions of the shrimp farm standards.
According to standard 6 on fishmeal and fish oil conservation catfish farms must accurately monitor feed inputs and minimize their use of fishmeal and fish oil derived from wild fisheries. It is evident that channel catfish feed typically contains little fishmeal or other marine-based ingredients but now the farmers shall record the characteristics of all feeds used and calculate average annual values for marine product inclusion, feed conversion and the ratio between fish in and fish out.
Standard 10 on animal welfare of the certification states that producers must demonstrate that all farm operations that involve fish are designed with animal welfare in mind. There should be well trained employees to provide appropriate levels of husbandry. Global Aquaculture Alliance President George Chamberlain declared the members of the National Association of State Aquaculture Coordinators (NASAC) that the launch of the Best Aquaculture Practices certification standards for channel catfish farms will offer an avenue through which U.S. catfish producers can further differentiate their products.
Chamberlain also told that many channel catfish farms, particularly those in the United States, could be readily certified because the industry is widely integrated. According to him several meeting attendees expressed interest in BAP certification for their constituents.
