The Global Aquaculture Alliance on July 14 welcomed Nova Austral S.A. into the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program with the certification of the company’s Aracena 19 salmon farm site in Región de Magallanes at the southern tip of Chile.
The new management team at Nova Austral has worked tirelessly since late last year to ensure that Aracena 19 was prepared for its audit, conducted by SAI Global in early June. All farms audited against the BAP standards are held to the same degree of scrutiny for environmental responsibility, social accountability, animal welfare, food safety and traceability.
Aracena 19 was subjected to a heightened degree of inspection, including a series of investigative audits over the first half of 2020, the outcome of which provided evidence and assurance that the company has fully addressed concerns related to the BAP standards and certification.
Nova Austral has committed all of its other salmon farm sites as well as its new hatchery to apply for BAP certification, and those sites will also be subjected to a heightened degree of inspection.
“We are gratified with this certification, as it is the outcome of the efforts and hard work that the company has been doing since last year to strengthen and rebuild Nova Austral in terms of sustainability, environmental responsibility and good practices. We are confident that we will make new achievements in this direction in the future, and that is why we have committed ourselves to BAP to start the certification process for other farm sites, including our new hatchery in Tierra del Fuego,” said Nicolás Larco, CEO of Nova Austral.
“We congratulate Nova Austral for achieving BAP certification, which provides further recognition of the good practices applied by its new management team and reaffirms its commitment to responsible salmon farming,” said Greg Brown, BAP’s senior VP of operations and strategic development.
BAP is the world’s largest and most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification program, with standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety, and animal health and welfare. Currently, there are more than 2,400 BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills in 35 countries worldwide.
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 production chain – including processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills. BAP standards cover environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety and animal welfare. The BAP program is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by GAA.
