« November 2008 Table of Contents 
Point of View: Wally Stevens
Executive director, Global Aquaculture Alliance, St. Louis
November 01, 2008
Without question, our industry needs to take the lead in
"doing the right thing" and getting out in front of the issue
of sustainability. At the Global Aquaculture Alliance
(GAA), we define sustainability as "meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs."
With this definition in mind, we need to educate stakeholder
groups - buyers, marketers, the media and consumers - about the
strides that have been made to ensure that future generations
will be able to enjoy the variety of seafood that we now
enjoy.
At the same time, producers must embrace the tools that are
available to them today to assure the marketplace that the
seafood they are offering to the market indeed meets this
definition of sustainability.
The most important tool available today to ensure the future
of seafood is that of standards. Let's look at how
standards work in the case of farmed shrimp. Today, 30 percent
of the shrimp consumed in the United States has been processed
under GAA's Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). Buyers and
consumers of BAP-certified shrimp can be assured that the
shrimp with the BAP seal has been produced according to
certified standards that protect the environment and the people
who produced the product and, most importantly, ensure that the
product meets global food-safety standards. This tool also
keeps products flowing from producer to consumer by providing
necessary reassurances to the regulator.
The good news about these developments is that GAA's
standards are being used today to the benefit of generations to
come.