The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has
established a special award to recognise 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 November 1, 2012
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 recognise
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.
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