“BAP certification is little more than a marketing tool”

US groups Corporate Accountability Lab and the Southern Shrimp Alliance co-filed a formal complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission requesting action against false or deceptive advertising or marketing-related activities by the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification scheme, operated by the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA).

"GSA, BAP, and retailers promote BAP certification as a tool consumers can use to ensure the seafood meets strict environmental and labor standards," explained Charity Ryerson, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability Lab. "In practice, BAP certification is little more than a marketing tool. It misleads consumers into thinking all is well, while workers at BAP-certified facilities report severe exploitation and dangerous working conditions, and communities suffer from pollution that has destroyed fisheries and contaminated drinking water."

A month earlier, four Republican and Democrat members of the US House Committee on Natural Resources sent a joint letter to the FTC questioning the legality of GSA's BAP program, saying that third-party certifications help consumers to easily recognize if a product and its production align with their values, but despite the certification prohibiting antibiotics, the business willingly deceived consumers by shipping antibiotic-contaminated prawn shipments to the U.S. and labeling it BAP-certified.

NOFF has previously reported on problems with BAP certification, in March and May 2024, and July 2023:

• Farmed salmon certifications confirm complicity while supermarkets profit from extinction
• Global Seafood Alliance Best Aquaculture Practice standards accused
• 80+ groups demand farmed salmon accreditations stop greenwashing Maugean skate extinction

The evidence from the USA confirms that the problem is not limited to Tasmania, and that GSA and BAP certification is increasingly recognised world-wide as dubious and of little credibility.