Meagre

Argyrosomus regius

2: Best Choice How we work out the ratings

What to check for

Location

All areas

Production method

Open net pen, marine

Certification

GLOBALG.A.P.

Rating summary

GLOBALG.A.P. farmed meagre is well managed and management is thought to be fully effective. The standard mitigates many areas of environmental concern in open net pen aquaculture, including discharge of effluents, use of chemicals, escapes, disease and parasite interactions. The GLOBALG.A.P. standard also has criteria in place for welfare and humane slaughter. However, lethal control of predators is permitted. The GLOBALG.A.P. feed standard is lacking in criteria for responsible sourcing for both marine and terrestrial ingredients, and meagre are net consumers of protein.This rating is based on full compliance with certification requirements. Commercial buyers should therefore ensure that full compliance has been achieved in order for this rating to be applicable.Rating last updated April 2023

Technical consultation summary

GLOBALG.A.P. farmed meagre is well managed and management is thought to be fully effective. The standard mitigates many areas of environmental concern in open net pen aquaculture, including discharge of effluents, use of chemicals, escapes, disease and parasite interactions. The GLOBALG.A.P. standard also has criteria in place for welfare and humane slaughter. However, lethal control of predators is permitted. The GLOBALG.A.P. feed standard has criteria in place for responsible sourcing for both marine and terrestrial ingredients, however, meagre are net consumers of protein.

How we worked out this Rating

Criteria on responsible feed are lacking in the GLOBALG.A.P. aquaculture standard with currently no requirements for responsible ingredient sourcing. However, the updated Feed Mill standard is expected to lead to improvements. Meagre are net consumers of protein.Meagre are fed on a commercial, pelleted feed that comprises fishmeal, fish oil and vegetable proteins and oils. The GLOBALG.A.P. aquaculture standard ensures that the protein and oil component of the feed used is known and traceable to species level.However, criteria for the fish oil and fish meal used are lacking with GLOBALG.A.P. certified farms only having to declare wild fish ingredients which originate from MarinTrust and MSC fisheries as a percentage. At present there are no requirements for fishmeal and fish oil to be responsibly sourced.Although meagre are good feed convertors, they still require more wild fish protein than they produce, making them a net consumer of protein. GLOBALG.A.P. does not restrict the amount of wild fish protein (fishmeal and fish oil) that can be used in meagre feed.There is currently no requirement for soy products and palm oil to be sourced sustainably in the GLOBALG.A.P. standard. There is also no mention of the use of novel or alternative feed ingredients.

GLOBALG.A.P. has criteria in place to ensure animal welfare and humane slaughter. The GLOBALG.A.P. Aquaculture standard outlines practices that are in place to ensure animal welfare and humane slaughter. This includes a risk assessment for animal welfare. Humane slaughter practices are also in place.

GLOBALG.A.P. farmed meagre are well managed and management is thought to be fully effective.Both the EU and Turkey have committed to zonal based management of aquaculture. The GLOBALG.A.P. standard has criteria in place to cover the use of land water resources, discharge including effluents and their impacts, biosecurity and disease management. Certification criteria are also thought to be fully effective in minimising environmental impacts.The GLOBALG.A.P. Aquaculture Standard incorporates aspects stipulated by the FAO Technical Guidelines on Aquaculture certification and the OIE Aquatic Animal Health Code. It is recognized both by the GFSI for food safety and GSSI at primary production level, covering key sustainability aspects for animal production for human consumption. The score for this section reflects GLOBALG.A.P. certified producers that are in full compliance with the standard.

References

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GLOBALG.A.P. 2016. Compound Feed Manufacturing. Version 2 August 2016. Available at https://www.globalgap.org/.content/.galleries/documents/160805_gg_cfm_cpcc_v2.2_Aug16_en.pdf [Accessed on 20.02.2023].

Mladineo I, Šegvić-Bubić T, Stanić R, Desdevises Y. 2013. Morphological Plasticity and Phylogeny in a Monogenean Parasite Transferring between Wild and Reared Fish Populations. PLOS ONE 8(4): e62011. 

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Skretting. Soy and oil palm ingredients sourcing policy – roadmap 2025. Available at https://www.skretting.com/globalassets/shared-documents/sustainability/201203-nutreco-soy-and-oil-palm-ingredients-sourcing-policy.pdf?v=4af3f1 [Accessed on 25.10.2022].

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