Aquaculture Certification - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 121

5.10 Codes of practice

The GAA has addressed some of the issues specific to shrimp farming
through the booklet 'Codes of Practice for Responsible Shrimp Farming' (Boyd
1999). The codes consist of two parts: a Review of Sustainable Shrimp Farming and
a section covering ten individual codes. The review assesses the status of shrimp
production technology with special regard to sustainability and efficiency and pro-
vides a broad overview of the industry and its relationship to the environment. The
ten individual codes address important issues related to aquaculture sustainability
(Box 5.1). The individual codes are detailed, but are designed as flexible guidelines
for the formulation of site-specific systems by responsible operators, and they en-
able implementation details to vary based on individual farm methods, goals and
local conditions. They are therefore a valuable, flexible synthesis of existing BMPs,
and are open to revision as technology advances. The GAA's code of practice was
developed 7 years before an important document of very similar scope and in-
tent prepared by a large international consortium (FAO/NACA/UNEP/WB/WWF
2006).

Box 5.1 Outline of the BAP Shrimp Farm Standards

Community
1. Property rights and regulatory compliance
Farms shall comply with local and national laws and environmental regulations,
and provide current documentation that demonstrates legal rights for land use,
water use, construction and operation.

2. Community relations
Farms shall not deny local communities access to public mangrove areas, fishing
grounds or other public resources.

3. Worker safety and employee relations
Farms shall comply with local and national labour laws to assure adequate worker
safety, compensation and living conditions at the facility.

Environment
4. Mangrove conservation and biodiversity protection
Shrimp farms shall not be located in mangrove areas, seagrass beds or other
coastal wetlands. Farm operations shall not damage wetlands or reduce the
biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. Mangroves removed for allowable purposes
shall be replaced by replanting an area three times as large.