Mexico’s First Tilapia Farm Earns BAP Certification
January, 2015
Acuicola Gemso S.A. de C.V. is Mexico’s first tilapia farm to attain Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification.
A partner of U.S.-based Tropical Aquaculture Products, the farm, which earned BAP certification last month, uses a cage system in the Plutarco Elias Calles “El Novillo” Reservoir, located east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
Founded nearly five years ago, Gemso partnered with Tropical early last year, when it began exporting fresh tilapia to the U.S. West Coast. The farm is situated only 16 hours from Los Angeles by truck.
The fish are processed at a nearby plant equipped to process deep-skinned, fully trimmed tilapia fillets and whole fish. A new, state-of-the-art processing plant is under construction and set to open early this year.
A number of Tropical’s partner farms are BAP certified.
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.
