Aquaculture Certification Council, Inc. is a nongovernmental body established to certify social, environmental and food safety standards at aquaculture facilities throughout the world. This nonprofit, nonmember public benefit corporation applies the Global Aquaculture Alliance Best Aquaculture Practices standards in a certification system that combines site inspections and effluent sampling with sanitary controls, therapeutic controls and traceability.
Part of ACC's mission is to help educate the aquaculture public regarding the benefits of applying Best Aquaculture Practices and the advancing scientific technology that directs them. By implementing BAP standards, program participants can better meet the demands of the growing global market for wholesome seafood produced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Aquaculture Certification Council, Inc. offers a primarily "process" certification. Successful participation in the Best Aquaculture Practices program is visually represented by limited use of the BAP certification mark.
ACC currently certifies shrimp hatcheries, shrimp, tilapia and channel catfish farms and seafood processing plants to include shrimp, channel catfish, Pangasius and tilapia.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and King & Prince Seafood are collaborating on seafood sustainability practices. WWF is helping King & Prince develop a sustainable sourcing strategy that will drive the company's seafood purchases. WWF is working closely with King & Prince to determine how the company can engage in relevant fishery improvement projects. “To achieve our conservation objectives for sustainable seafood, we need to engage leading companies like King & Prince,” said Bill Fox, vice president of WWF's fisheries program. “Their commitment to sourcing wild-caught seafood sustainably, demonstrates the value of protecting ecosystems to ensure availability that meets consumer demand.” “This collaboration is an important step to accelerate our ongoing efforts in sustainability, which is a non-negotiable aspect in our customer service,” said Volker Kuntzsch, president of King & Prince.
King & Prince believes that all employees, as well as all employees of our supply chain partners, deserve to be treated in a respectful and dignified manner. To help achieve this, we have established workplace and employment standards to assist all managers and suppliers in meeting our expectations as it relates to the treatment and working conditions of employees. King & Prince strongly believes that all of our suppliers should follow the same philosophy regarding compliance with the law, upholding high standards of business conduct, and ethical treatment of employees.
All suppliers are required to review, sign and comply with the King & Prince Workplace and Employment Standards Policy annually. This policy is a comprehensive document that addresses work place standards and ethical treatment of employees, and it states our intolerance of slavery and human trafficking. The major policies in the standard include:
- Provision of a safe and healthy workplace environment
- Reasonable working hours and fair compensation in compliance with local laws
- No discriminatory practices or any type of child, prison or forced labor practices
As part of King & Prince's continued improvement towards building and strengthening our supply chain, we are in the process of enhancing our supplier accountability standards and procedures for suppliers that fall short of meeting our company workplace and employment standards. We continue to work with a third-party social responsibility consultant to help us identify potential program improvements, and to help us conduct comprehensive assessments of suppliers and countries.
Currently, we rely on our suppliers to do their own social responsibility assessments to evaluate compliance with standards for human trafficking and slavery, and we request copies of any independent audits that are conducted annually.
Another component of our continuous improvement program is to provide better training and education to our suppliers and company employees on this subject. King & Prince educates affected personnel through formal training programs and by continuous communication to our suppliers as to our expectations regarding workplace and employment standards.
The happiness and wellbeing of all employees throughout our entire supply chain is important to King & Prince. We believe that it is our responsibility to partner with suppliers that implement proper workplace and employment standards for all its employees. King & Prince believes this is essential to our role as a trusted global corporate citizen.
