We listen to the strictest stewards of aquaculture and are guided by these key tenets, which drive the operational decisions that we make. The quality and health of our fish and the biodiversity around our sites stand as testaments to the efficacy of our actions.
Practising sustainable aquaculture
- Rigorous site selection: To ensure our farms are sustainable, we select sites based on strict environmental criteria, such as clean and oxygen-rich waters as well as strong currents. Strong currents are critical as they act as nature’s balancer, providing a constant supply of oxygen-rich water, dispersing fish waste and excess feed to be naturally recycled in the ecosystem.
- Enforcing wildlife protection through stringent protocols: We have stringent protocols to ensure other animal species are not impacted by our farming infrastructure, by regularly maintaining our sea-pens and training our farm staff to recognise endangered, threatened, and protected species.
- Predominantly plant-based feed formula: Our fish are fed a customised protein formula, which comprises of 70% plant-derived proteins like soy, which are renewable. Our close relationship to our feed providers also ensures we know what goes into our fish feed, and we are constantly working with our feed partners on new and improved formulations that are good for both our fish and the environment.
Prioritising Fish Welfare
- Prioritising prevention of diseases: Our philosophy of prevention over cure is why we focus on diagnostics and vaccines development through our in-house fish health arm, UVAXX. This has allowed us to move away from using excessive and indiscriminate use of antibiotics to maintain fish health.
- Floating feed protocol: Our feed floats on the surface of the water, allowing us to monitor feeding behaviour and prevent over-feeding. Floating feed allows us to ensure there is no excess feed that is dispersed into the natural environment as well.
Ensuring Resource Efficiency
- Energy efficiency through tapping into solar power: We are always looking at new ways to operate in an energy and resource-efficient manner, using only what we need, such as converting more of our power source from diesel to solar. Our farm in Brunei operates 100% on solar energy and we are committed to minimising our carbon footprint by adopting clean energy across our other farms.
- Nose-to-tail dining through product development: To avoid and reduce waste, we have developed a portfolio of innovative products to fully utilise each barramundi – from head to bones.
- Prioritising R&D to develop sustainable packaging: We are prioritising R&D to develop sustainable packaging that ensures freshness and upholds food safety and quality standards for our fish, from farm to fork.
Caring for our People and Communities
- Employees: We provide meaningful jobs, ongoing training, and education. As part of BGBN collaboration with local technical education institutions, BGBN hosts interns and attachment students from the aquaculture faculty of Institute of Brunei Technical Education Wasan as part of their practical experience program. Majority of these students have been offered permanent employment with BGBN at the end of the program. In Singapore, we are proud of our gender-diverse corporate team and will continue to strive towards broad-based inclusivity throughout our operations.
- Community: Connecting with local communities is something our team is very passionate about, which is why we are always actively seeking social impact projects that can help support the communities where we operate.