Obtention of high quality products and feed safety are subjects that consumers are more interested about every day, so companies improve them continuously. To be able to homogenize and assess in an objective way the parameters in the aquaculture industry, arises the Good Practices in Aquaculture.

What are considered good practices in aquaculture?

Good Practices in Aquaculture (GaqPs) are a serie of considerations, procedures and protocols designed to promote efficient and responsible production and to grant quality, security and environmental sustainability of the production. GAqPs include considerations about location of facilities, production system design, preservation of seed sources, bio security in facilities, management of feeding, processes and storage, production techniques to maximize fishes health, harvest, clearing and sanitation to warrant final quality of the product such as its safety. It is obvious that from these considerations it will be necessary to adapt protocols to each facility according to their particularities.

Good Practices on Aquaculture are relatively simple, practices that entail common sense, which can benefit significantly in fish production, diseases incidence, quality and safety. As bigger and more intensive is the production, more important and detailed will be the GAqPs. Once the protocols of GAqPs are developed properly, registrations procedures have to be filled as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles have to be taken into account. If the facilities also are able to make the processing previous to sale (as for example heading, gutted or filleted) it is also required a plan of safety in feed base don HACCP system of critical points.

Certification and regulatory body

Good practices on Aquaculture were created and are working under supervision of Global Aquaqualture Alliance that makes the standards.

This certifications has currently standards for prawns, tylapia, panga, catfish, salmon and mussels. There are also specific standards for processing plants and feed manufacturing plants. These standards are based on the improvements on the current practices and are continuously updated with the scientific and technologic advances.