A+ is a world class sustainable management framework which enables the New Zealand aquaculture industry to better engage with our communities, continuously improve our environmental practices and strengthen global demand for our seafood.
The A+ objectives align with those of world leading accredited certification programmes and focus on:
A key element of A+ is the system of self-reporting checklists that are hosted and supported here through the A+ web application. This allows all marine farmers (Growers) to securely record and view their own sustainability progress.
Aquaculture New Zealand (AQNZ), as an administrator of the system, scores the A+ Checklist questions and provides a summary report to each Grower which visually indicates areas where best practices is being met and also areas for improvement.
AQNZ also reports on industry trends over time while individual Grower information remains confidential. This reporting system will provide evidence of industry’s integrity and provide a valuable communication tool with regulators, kiwis and the international market.
For further information visit the A+ website aplusaquaculture.nz.
You may find it useful to have this help page open in one browser tab, and the A+ application in another tab. Click here to do this. The help information below is for your A+ Champion to assist when completing your A+ Checklist.
One of the areas we have been focusing on is generating templates to help support A+ checklist questions and evidence. We have these templates available for growers to use:
Home page. The A+ home page (aplus.org.nz) summarises the A+ programme; links to A+ website; links to demo checklists for each species; and login button for registered users (A+ Champions).
Demo checklists. Public access to demo checklist for each species (no login required).
After you've logged into A+, the Grower page shows a list of your checklist summaries (species specific) and reporting year.
A list of marine farms assigned to you as a Grower, responsible for in A+ is also found here. Please check the list of marine farms assigned to you annually and if there are any farms missing or included that shouldn't be - please contact AQNZ aplus@aquaculture.org.nz to edit your farm list.
A checklist summary box shows the percentage of questions answered for each section. You'll see icons representing the sections, e.g., a tree for the "Ecology" section. Click a summary to see the checklist details, and to complete A+ Checklist questions.
The top of the checklist shows the following:
All questions have help information, evidence required to support your answers, and includes links to useful web resources or reference documents. AQNZ is here to help - email: aplus@aquaculture.org.nz
An answered question shows a green bar on the right side of the question box; an unanswered question shows a red bar; an optional question has no coloured bar.
Some questions are disabled by default — they appear faded out. They are enabled dependent on your answer to a question above it.
A checklist is always in edit mode. Any change you make to a checklist will be automatically saved to the A+ server. A checklist answer flashes a light green to confirm it has been saved.
When you're finished viewing or editing the checklist, click "Home" at the top of the page. You will notice that the checklist sections percentage completed would have been updated and the boxes will now be green.