| Shrimp Hatchery Certification |
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| To be considered for Best Aquaculture Practices certification by Aquaculture Certification Council, Inc., applicants shall complete the following steps. |
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| 1. Review Certification Application Form (8 pages in PDF format) and Guidelines for Standards (9 pages in PDF format). The Certification Application Form collects contact information for hatchery facilities and, if applicable, their parent companies, as well as general background data. It also requests information on hatchery facilities' management practices for the Best Aquaculture Practices standards that comprise the certification program. The Guidelines for Standards outline the value of the standards, guidelines for their implementation and additional resources. |
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| To be certified, the facility shall meet the evaluation criteria stated in the Application Form guidelines for all the standards and maintain specified production records regarding traceability for at least three months. Due to changes in regulatory requirements and new standards development, future changes to the BAP criteria and standards may be required. |
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| 2. Return completed Application Form with fee to ACC. The applicant shall answer all of the questions under "Facility Information" at the beginning of the Application Form, as well as all critical and informational questions under "Inspection Information." Return the completed Application Form with payment of a U.S. $500 application fee to the ACC office. This fee is subject to change without notice. |
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| Upon receipt of the form and application fee, the ACC office will review the information and provide general guidance to help the applicant correct minor problems or advise the applicant to contact a consultant for help with more major problems. If the facility chooses to use a consultant, it is responsible for all consultant fees. |
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| 3. Sign Facility Certification Agreement and pay facility inspection fees. When ACC is satisfied that the applicant is ready to proceed with certification, it sends a Facility Certification Agreement containing the terms and conditions of the BAP certification program and the fee structure. The applicant shall sign the contract and return it to the ACC office with the annual inspection fee of U.S. $3,000. After receipt of the agreement and inspection fee, ACC appoints an evaluator to inspect the facility. |
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| Fees for hatcheries that produce less than 10 million postlarvae per month are negotiable. ACC recognizes the importance of smaller facilities achieving certified status and uses its best efforts to arrange fees that accomodate smaller facilities. |
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| 4. ACC selects and pays evaluator. ACC selects the evaluator and asks the applicant if the company has any conflicts of interest with the selected evaluator. The evaluator then contacts the facility to arrange a date for the evaluation inspection. ACC is responsible for all travel expenses and evaluator fees. The applicant may be responsible for local travel arrangements for the evaluator, if required. The inspection process for hatcheries generally requires approximately one day, assuming records, permits and other pertinent documents are current and available. |
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| 5. Complete site inspection. During the site inspection of the hatchery facility, the evaluator reviews records, observes procedures and considers human resources. He or she also takes random stock samples to verify their health status regarding the diseases for which claims are made. The cost of the testing shall be paid by the applicant. |
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| The applicant shall allow full access to staff and pertinent information, including production records, and should not hesitate to ask questions to better understand the process. The evaluator reports evaluation results to the hatchery representative and ACC within 10 working days following the evaluation inspection. |
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| For the facility to be certified, it shall comply with all (100%) of the critical inspection requirements and score at least 70% (69 of 99 points) on the scored inspection requirements. After five years, certified facilities shall comply with all critical requirements and score 80% or better on the scored requirements. |
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| Hatcheries have up to one year from the date of application to be certified. In some cases, hatcheries unable to certify within this period that are working on updates may be granted a limited time extension to comply with the BAP guidelines. |
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| 6. Pay program certification fee. After a successful inspection and review, the hatchery shall pay a certification fee of U.S. $500. This fee is subject to change without notice. |
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| 7. Check ACC Website for company listing. Once the facility is approved for certification and all fees are paid, a unique certification number is assigned to the hatchery, a certification license is issued and the facility is added to the list of certified facilities. Certified facilities may advertise their status as provided in the Facility Certification Agreement and referenced publications. |
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| Unless instructed otherwise by the applicant, facility names and locations are made public on the ACC website. Other information is kept confidential and not shared with or sold to other parties. ACC may draw general statistics from the data for educational purposes, but the anonymity of specific information is maintained. |
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| 8. Maintain records and input traceability data. The certified hatchery shall maintain production records for each rearing tank and production lot that include data on postlarvae species, sources, and chemical and feed use as outlined in the Traceability section of the Guidelines for Standards. A portion of this data shall also be uploaded to an online traceability system that allows each processed lot to be traced back to its inputs of origin. |
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| ACC currently uses a traceability system developed by TraceRegister, Inc. as an integral part of the online certification system. To participate in the traceability system, the hatchery shall pay a basic annual fee and an incremental fee for each registered traceability document. Hatchery facilities must participate in the TraceRegister program to be certified. |
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| 9. Recertify each year. BAP hatchery certification remains in effect for one year. For each successive year, hatcheries shall pay an evaluation inspection fee of U.S. $3,000 prior to the inspection and a recertification fee of U.S. $500, subject to the exceptions for small hatcheries described in number 3 above. A hatchery has up to 60 days after the recertification date to complete recertifcation. |
