GAA, D-Fish Vietnam Sign Agreement At Seafood Expo Global

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) Vietnam in which the two organizations will work collaboratively to advance responsible aquaculture in Vietnam and globally through the exchange of information and research.

Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 2.47.48 PMCarson Roper, international business development manager for GAA’s Best Aquaculture Practices division, and Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, deputy director general of D-Fish, signed the MoU in GAA’s exhibit at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium, on April 22.

In the MoU, GAA and D-Fish agreed to benchmark the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) finfish and crustacean farm standards to the VietGAP standards, and vice versa, using a mutually agreed upon methodology followed by a parallel audit to determine equivalence. GAA agreed to offer training to help Vietnamese Pangasius producers comply with the VietGAP standards as part of a stepwise approach to pursuing BAP certification.

The two organizations also agreed to share information and research pertaining production, disease management and other aquaculture-related matters.

“We are delighted to formally recognize the collaboration between GAA and the Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) Vietnam to promote responsible aquaculture in Vietnam. This benchmarking project of VietGAP and the BAP farm standards will build a solid foundation for the use VietGAP as a stepping stone toward BAP certification for Pangasius and shrimp farms in Vietnam,” said Roper.

D-Fish is part of the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

About GAA
The Global Aquaculture Alliance is an international, non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture. Through the development of its Best Aquaculture Practices certification standards, GAA has become the leading standards-setting organization for aquaculture seafood.