India’s Second Company Attains Four-Star BAP Status
Suryamitra Exim (P) Ltd., in conjunction with National Fish & Seafood (NFS), is India’s second group to achieve four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) status for shrimp or any species, the Global Aquaculture Alliance announced in mid-April.
Four-star BAP status denotes that the processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills from which a group sources are BAP certified. It’s the highest such achievement in the BAP program.
Four-star BAP status was achieved once it was confirmed that Suryamitra’s BAP-certified farm, I. Surya Rao, sourced its feed from the BAP-certified Avanti Feeds Limited (Feed Unit 1 & 3) feed mill. Also certified is the company’s Siddardha Hatcheries Private Limited hatchery.
The effort was coordinated by U.S.-based NFS, a division of Pacific Andes International Holdings Limited, which sources shrimp from Suryamitra. Furthermore, the two companies are preparing to certify an additional 150 acres of farms, significantly increasing the group’s offerings of four-star shrimp.
Early this month, Penver Products Ltd., in conjunction with NFS, became India’s first group to achieve four-star BAP status for shrimp or any species.
“With this four-star certification, Ganga Ram Irrinki of Suryamitra, James Baros and Mathews David of NFS, and the BAP staff have made a significant contribution in advancing responsible aquaculture in India,” said Jeff Sedacca, president of the shrimp division at NFS. “This achievement is the result of more than two years of dedicated work. We expect to expand our Suryamitra/National Fish four-star supply dramatically now that the first project has been successfully completed. We will jointly continue our work to help farmers, small and large alike, to improve Indian aquaculture.”
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.
