Aquamar Attains GLOBALG.A.P. Certification

Greetings!

Tropical Aquaculture's monthly newsletter will give you timely and relevant information about our Vermont based company as well as our overseas facilities. Each month we will also be sharing a new sustainability point that we currently practice - so keep your eyes open!

Aquamar Farm

Aquamar S.A. Attains GLOBALG.A.P. Certification

Aquamar S.A., one of Tropical's largest Ecuadorian farms, attained GLOBALG.A.P. certification this month. Aquamar now represents the first tilapia farm certified to this standard in the Western Hemisphere. The GLOBALG.A.P. Tilapia Standard was launched in April 2009 and was developed based on the demand for sustainable sources of this protein.

The standard focuses on food safety, animal welfare, environmental protection and social risk assessment. GLOBALG.A.P. requires a Chain of Custody certification with which there is full segregation and traceability of certified products. The standard not only covers good aquaculture practices at the farm-level, but also enables the farmer to demonstrate that feed and fingerlings entering the farming process are also GLOBALG.A.P. recognized.

'Aquamar´s GLOBALG.A.P. certification validates Tropical Aquaculture's commitment to responsible and sustainable aquaculture practices, including minimization of environmental impacts, responsible approach to employees´ health and safety, animal welfare and product quality', said Enrico Delfini, Executive Vice-president of Aquamar.

Our Colombian Farm Participates in SFP

Triple Audit

This week, Piscicola New York S.A., our Colombian farm, will participate in the SFP triple audit. The audit compares Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), GLOBALG.A.P. and International Standards for Responsible Tilapia Aquaculture (ISRTA) certifications. The SFP will run these side-by-side audits on ten different tilapia farms worldwide. In February of this year Aquamar and Produmar, two of our Ecuadorian farms participated in the audit representing pond farming systems.

The results will allow stakeholders to see how the certifications stack up against one another. Farms that do well against all certifications will be in a strong position to sell to a diverse range of companies and markets. Buyers sourcing from these farms will have the highest degree of confidence that the tilapia they are buying comes from the most environmentally friendly farms.

Aquamar S.A.: State-of-the-Art Technology for Effluent Water Treatment

Aquamar's tilapia processing facility is located in the Yaguachi County of Ecuador and operates a state of the art effluent water treatment plant (EWTP). The water discharged by the EWTP complies with Ecuadorian regulations on effluent water discharges into natural bodies of water, as well as with international standards like Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). Additionally, the water discharged by the EWTP is used for irrigation of the agricultural land located near the processing plant. Read more

Staff Notes
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This month marks Marty Notte's twelve-year anniversary working at Tropical. In twelve years he has done just about everything. From working in sales, to Edit Image accounting, logistics, inventory accounting and finally to payables for the farms, Marty is a jack-of-all-trades! He is a big Yankees fan and while he may not have seen Babe Ruth hit a homer, he is in partial retirement. A dedicated worker, who is fun to be around, Marty is the best...Thanks for all your hard work!

We welcome David Kearns to our logistics team this month.He spent the last four years in Rutland in an operational role with Casella Waste Systems in an effort to convert waste into an asset. He has a background in IT, operations (routing waste) and finance and completed his MBA at Babson. When not flinging fish he spends time with his family trying to catch fish and learn the game of hockey.

Meghan Bouchie, one of our sales representatives, is busy as a bee these days! She is planning her wedding for mid-September and is working on Edit Image getting all her ducks in a row by May for the groundbreaking of the house she and her fiancé are building. Meghan also celebrated her birthday on Easter this year. She will start packing her bags soon, as she will travel around the country in the upcoming months as part of the 2010 future leaders class. You may wonder how she fits it all in; birthday celebrations, wedding planning, house building, NFI Future Leaders and managing a number of Tropical accounts, but she pulls it all off with a smile on her face!