Tilapia
aquaculture improvement partnerships
Several eco-labeling schemes and standards are emerging for tilapia. SFP is comparing these schemes by running side-by-side audits on ten different tilapia farms for each scheme. The results will allow stakeholders to see how the schemes stack up against one another. Farms that do well against all the schemes will be in a strong position to sell into a diverse range of companies and markets, while buyers sourcing from these farms will have the highest degree of confidence available today in the environmental performance of their sourcing.
Our comparisons will reveal which, if any, of the emerging standards is an “easy marker” and provide information on why it is so. The comparisons and real-world testing will also reveal whether some of the criteria are redundant and simplifications are possible.
SFP is putting together a methods committee comprising individuals from each of the different standards. The committee will agree to a draft methods description, describing how the audits are to be carried out, and how the results are to be analyzed. This draft method will be applied on the first farm to undergo the side-by-side audits, and the methods committee will then reconvene to assess the work and agree on the methods to be applied to the other farms.
SFP is also now identifying the farms to include in the study. During WWF’s Tilapia Aquaculture Dialog in Kuala Lumpur, SFP connected with several tilapia farms that are willing to be involved in testing different auditing standards available for tilapia. A field visit to a farm outside of Bangkok was conducted in September 2007 to better understand the farm operation and we received positive response from the farm to be included in the testing.