The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has established a special award to recognize and reward innovative practices that overcome production challenges or mitigate negative environmental or social impacts at aquaculture farms certified under the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program.
The inaugural Global Aquaculture Innovation Award program — sponsored by Novus International — was announced on Nov. 1 during GAA’s GOAL 2012 conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Innovations can span the full range of farm activities, including wetlands conservation, feed management, water-quality management, effluent reduction, energy reduction, staff training, community relations, animal welfare, and health and nutrition.
Among the program’s objectives are to recognize significant and novel achievements in the aquaculture industry brought by individual companies or research groups and to distinguish unorthodox perspectives over technology applications in the industry that lead to a truly sustainable aquaculture industry.
Three finalists will be invited and paid by Novus to attend a semifinalist summit at the company’s St. Charles, Missouri, headquarters in the summer of 2013.
The recipient of the award will receive a plaque, an all-expenses paid trip (including airfare, registration, hotel and meal expenses) to GAA’s GOAL 2013 conference and a U.S. $1,000 cash prize.
The winner will also get the opportunity to present the innovation at GOAL 2013, in GAA’s Global Aquaculture Advocate magazine and in an online profile for the year of the award.
The award is open to all producers with active BAP certification. Candidates are asked send a one- to two-page narrative that includes the names of the author and applicant, the location and description of the facility, a description of the innovation and its environmental or social benefits. Please include high-resolution digital photographs that illustrate the facility and its innovations.
To submit a candidate, please e-mail GAA’s Daniel Lee at dangaelle@aol.com. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2013. An awards committee representing varied stakeholders within the BAP Standards Oversight Committee as well as Novus representatives will review the award applications and determine a recipient.
In the future, GAA may expand the program to recognize additional sectors of the seafood value chain, as well as exemplary efforts in the areas of biodiversity protection, pollution reduction, waste minimization and energy efficiency.
About Global Aquaculture Alliance
The Global Aquaculture Alliance is an international, non-profit trade association whose Best Aquaculture Practices program provides comprehensive, metrics-based certification for aquaculture facilities — including farms, hatcheries, feed mills and processing plants. For more information on GAA, visit www.gaalliance.org.
About Novus International
Novus International, Inc. is headquartered in metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., and serves customers in nearly 100 countries around the world. A global leader in developing animal health and nutrition solutions, Novus’s products include ALIMET® and MHA® feed supplements, ACTIVATE® nutritional feed acid, ACIDOMIX® preservative premixture, ADVENT® coccidiosis control, MINTREX® chelated trace minerals, SANTOQUIN® feed preservative, MERA™MET aquaculture feed additive, AGRADO® feed ingredient and many other specialty ingredients. Arenus® is a division of Novus Nutrition Brands, LLC (a subsidiary of Novus International, Inc.) that focuses on developing health and dietary supplements for the equine and companion animal markets. Stratum® Nutrition, a division of Novus Nutrition Brands, LLC, focuses on human nutrition through specialty and functional ingredients for manufacturers of foods, beverages and dietary supplements. Novus is privately owned by Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. and Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. For more information visit www.novusint.com.
Source: Global Aquaculture Alliance