Regal Springs become a member of the Blue Food Partnership’s Sustainable Aquaculture Working Group

Regal Springs has reported proudly that has become a member of the Blue Food Partnership’s Sustainable Aquaculture Working Group, led by Friends of Ocean Action. This initiative aims to harness the vast potential of sustainable aquaculture to help meet the nutritional needs of our fast-growing population in a way that fights climate change and works towards zero hunger.

“Our tilapia is at the corner stone of world food security. By farming responsibly, we add precious protein to world food supplies helping to preserve threated ocean fish stocks. With wild stocks in some regions fished near to capacity, aquaculture will contribute most of the additional fish produced and consumed in the future,” said Alois Hofbauer, CEO of Regal Springs.

The Blue Food Partnership catalyzes science-based actions towards sustainable, healthy, nutritious, and affordable blue food value chains. 

Its members collaborate to build the sustainability of blue food by engaging in thought leadership, working groups and public activities to elevate the critical role of sustainable blue food in the broader food systems transformation.

Blue Food Movement

“By scaling up sustainable aquaculture, Regal Springs can help what we define as the Blue Food Movement to accelerate the food systems transformation we need for people and planet, while stimulating new avenues for economic growth and jobs for millions of people worldwide,” Hofbauer added.

“From humble beginnings over 30 years ago, providing livelihoods to remote rural communities has been at the heart of our business with our founders believing in ‘Doing well by doing good”, he declared.

In the other hand, Laurent Develle, Head of Corporate Affairs of the company, assured Regal Springs “welcomes the opportunity to contribute responsibly farmed tilapia as a low impact way to provide sustainable, healthy, nutritious, and affordable blue foods that address growing population needs through our collaboration with the multi-stakeholder Blue Food Partnership’s Sustainable Aquaculture Working Group”.

10th anniversary to the first fish farm ever certified by ASC

The news arrived when Regal Springs’ is celebrating the 10th anniversary to the first fish farm ever certified by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). To this day, Regal Springs’ Lake Toba tilapia farm still enjoys ASC certification, as do ed, their other tilapia farm sites in Honduras and Mexico.

Ten years ago, Regal Springs’ Lake Toba tilapia farm in Sumatra, Indonesia became the first one in achieve it. In the decade since, there have been more than 1,700 aquaculture farms around the world that met the ASC standard to become ASC certified.

All these farms together harvest nearly 2.5 million tonnes of seafood and seaweed harvested each year, which helps transform aquaculture into a vitally important environmentally and socially responsible industry.

“At Regal Springs we are very proud to have pioneered with ASC in Indonesia,” said Petra Weigl, Regal Springs’ Managing Director for Europe. “And of course, we rolled out ASC certification to our more recently established farms in Honduras and Mexico,” she added.

“ASC certification brings us a host of benefits — well-organized data, which we share transparently through ASC audits and reporting; improved traceability, from feed to harvest, which will further accelerate with the ASC Feed Standard about to be launched; and continuing upgrades to our socially responsible standards both internally and with external parties,” explained Rudolf Hoeffelman, Managing Director of Regal Springs Indonesia.

“ASC certification undoubtedly helps us communicate our sustainability and best practices to our customers and stakeholders in a clear and well-organized way.”

Coverage to 11 species

Two years after ASC was first founded, Regal Springs gained its certificate in Indonesia. In that early stage, only two species could be ASC certified – tilapia and pangasius. By 2022, ASC expanded its coverage to 11 species.

These include abalone; bivalves (clams, mussels, oyster, scallop); flatfish; freshwater trout; pangasius; salmon; seabass, seabream and meagre; seriola and cobia; shrimp; tilapia; and tropical marine finfish. In addition, a joint ASC-MSC standard was established for all kinds of seaweed.