Regal Springs tilapia operation in Indonesia awarded rigorous industry standard certificates

Regal Springs Tilapia Aquafarm in Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia is the second aquaculture operation in the world meeting the International Standards for Responsible Tilapia Aquaculture (ISRTA). These high standards were created by industry stakeholders organized by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), the world's leading conservation organization. The farm now has a GlobalGAP certificate and its processing plant holds a GlobalGAP Chain of Custody (CoC) certification, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Regal Springs.

Regal Springs Tilapia is the world's largest producer and importer of Tilapia fillets to the United States. Started as a small venture in the early 1990's amidst ancient spring waters in Central Java, Indonesia, the company is now an industry leader and innovator with over 6000 employees and production sites across Northwest Honduras, Indonesia and Mexico.

The Swiss-based Institute for Marketecology (IMO) www.imo.ch conducted the audit, issuing the certificate for GlobaGAP and a letter of compliance for the ISRTA. Aquafinca St Peter Fish in Honduras, also part of the Regal Springs Tilapia Group, was the first tilapia operation in the world to have been issued a letter of compliance with the ISRTA by the same auditing firm in 2010.

The ISRTA aim to steer the growing fish farming industry to protect water from pollution, the spread of diseases and conduct fair labor practices. Fish farms are ranked on seven environmental and social impacts principles: compliance with local, regional and national laws; conservation of natural habitat and local biodiversity; conservation of water resources; conservation of species diversity and wild populations; responsible use of resources; proper management of fish health and welfare in an environmentally responsible manner; and social responsibility toward workers and communities. (STANDARD: http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/WWFBinaryitem14693.pdf)

Magdalena Wallhoff, spokesperson for Regal Springs, said, "We are very pleased that our farms in Indonesian and Honduras demonstrated such leadership with the new industry standards. Our Central Java location will participate in audits in the coming months as we at Regal Springs pioneer the way for a balanced approach to the future of fish farming."

Speaking to Regal Spring's earlier success in Honduras, Jose Villalon, Aquaculture Programme Director of World Wildlife Fund which coordinated the Aquaculture Dialogues: "We are delighted that after many years of hard work by so many people involved in the process, the first tilapia farm has now been audited and was found compliant with the Aquaculture Dialogue standards, and congratulate Regal Springs, who have been highly involved in the Tilapia Aquaculture Dialogue, with this great result."

Regal Springs takes pride in harnessing the power of for-profit business to protect natural resources, better the lives of its workers and create a fish that is high in nutritional value, low in fat and superior in taste.