FAQ
ASC is the acronym for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, an independent not for profit organisation. The ASC was founded in 2009 by WWF and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture, which are under development by the Aquaculture Dialogues, a programme of roundtables initiated and coordinated by WWF. Currently the ASC is in its business development phase. The ASC is expected to be in full operation by mid 2011.
The ASC will be the world's leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood. The ASC will be a global organisation working with aquaculture producers, seafood processors, retail and foodservice companies, scientists, conservation groups and the public to promote the best environmental and social choice in seafood.
The ASC's aquaculture certification programme and seafood label will recognise and reward responsible aquaculture.
By volume, almost half of the seafood we eat is from aquaculture - the fastest growing food production system in the world - and aquaculture's contribution is expected to continue to rise. The ASC wants to protect the world's oceans and coastal habitats. We believe the seafood industry can improve its practices so the growth of the industry has little to no negative social and environmental impact now and in the future.
For the benefit of our planet and mankind it is necessary to ensure that aquaculture can grow without having negative social and environmental impacts. For the benefit of the industry it is important because public awareness will create consumer demand for responsibly grown aquaculture products. Moreover going the sustainable route is in line with good management practices which will reduce the extreme volatility experienced from time to time in a number of species and geographies, most recently salmon in Chile, and lead also to improved economic benefits for the industry over the long term.
The aquaculture industry is very fragmented. Choosing the right approach for such a diverse range of players, from major multinational companies to individual smallholders will be extremely challenging. Next to that it will not be easy to translate social and environmental benefits into commercial benefits for individual producers. But in the end it can only be of value to the industry to implement the aquaculture standards formulated by the Aquaculture Dialogues.
The ASC is the most credible entity for environmental and social standards because its standards will be measurable, based on sound science, created by a broad and diverse group of stakeholders, and developed through a transparent process. Read more
In partnership with producers, retailers, foodservice companies and representatives of interest groups in society the ASC can create awareness in all levels of the value chain. ASC will be the custodian of independently formulated standards that represent the views of many stakeholders, derived over a period of 2 to 5 years. Once implemented by the ASC, the standards will lead to real improvement in sustainability. That will benefit all stakeholders including large and small scale farmers, processing industry, retail and foodservice companies, consumers and society as a whole.
To initiate the development phase, WWF and The Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) have funded the expenses for the personnel and to create the ASC structure. At the moment the ASC is looking for additional funders.
Currently WWF and IDH are the principal partners and contributors. Discussions with other partners from a number of stakeholder groups are in progress.
To initiate the process, WWF and The Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) have helped fund the development of the ASC.
A variety of private industries and others (e.g. government agencies and foundations) will be asked to help finance the launching of the ASC.
Producers and retailers are amongst those actively engaged in the Aquaculture Dialogue process and receiving updates regarding the future development of the ASC including its governance structure. A number of them have expressed an interest to participate in the various groups and committees that will constitute the governance structure of the ASC.
The ASC has been co-founded by WWF and IDH (the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) in the Netherlands as the ‘standards holding body' for the most credible social and environmental standards in aquaculture. These standards are being set by a programme of ‘roundtables', called Aquaculture Dialogues, initiated by WWF some five years ago. Twelve species are covered in eight Aquaculture Dialogues. Each aims to be a multi-stakeholder, ISEAL compliant process.
During the next two years, the ASC will set up the necessary multi-stakeholder governance structure and put in place third-party accreditation and certification processes and begin to implement those standards, offering an ASC consumer label to retailers and foodservice companies for products produced in compliance with those standards. But Aquaculture Dialogue standards for some species will be available before the ASC is actually ready to implement them and WWF has partnered with GLOBALGAP for this interim period.
Prior to the ASC becoming fully operational in 2011, the Aquaculture Dialogue standard certification process will be handled by entities that meet several criteria, including but not limited to:
- Inspections should be conducted by independent and officially accredited third-party bodies according to ISO/IEC Norm 17020:1998, and be accredited International Accreditation Forum (IAF) members;
- Certification of products/operations should be conducted by independent third-party and officially accredited certification bodies according to ISO Guide/EN 45011:1998;
- Inspections should be conducted on a regular basis (annually, at a minimum); and
- The organisation should have a credible programme in place to train accredited auditors with the guidance documents developed for the Aquaculture Dialogue standards.
The first entity to meet the above criteria is GLOBALGAP (GG). That is why WWF has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with GG, a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe. GG's accredited certification bodies are authorised by GG to audit farms that adopt the Aquaculture Dialogue standards. Farms that are in compliance with the standards will receive a certificate of interim compliance from GG.
The Aquaculture Dialogue standards will be added on, in their entirety, to the GG standards (instead of replacing the GG standards).
WWF will work with GG to create guidance documents, check lists and training materials for the people who will be auditing farms that want to be certified against the Aquaculture Dialogue standards. The first set of documents (for tilapia) will be completed in April and GG will be able to begin auditing tilapia farmers in the second quarter of 2010.
See for an overview of the finalisation of Aquaculture Dialogue standards the Species section of this site
The partnership between WWF and GLOBALGAP provides the opportunity to ‘leverage' synergies and improve efficiency in the certification process. It will not enable products from GLOBALGAP certified farms to be ASC labelled. It is not an exclusive arrangement and both parties may develop alternative partnerships or ways to bring certified products to the market in future.
Once the ASC has become formally established (or once the ASC has become fully operational) the ASC's Supervisory Board will assess whether and how to continue the partnership(s) with interim certifiers.
The Aquaculture Dialogue standards will be the most credible and robust in the market place. They are based on science, metrics and performance measurements. The ASC will provide for third-party accreditation and certification which is ISO 65 compliant. These processes and the governance structure are multi-stakeholder and aim to be fully ISEAL compliant providing the highest possible level of credibility.
The important thing is that retailers, foodservice companies and consumers can depend on one credible logo which will be launched by the ASC. This label which will be able to give consumers confidence that the products bearing this label can be trusted to be delivering real social and environmental benefits.
There is a need to implement credible, robust, metrics- and performance-based standards in all of these, that is the similarity! Although there clearly are differences in species, processes and geography, there are also many similarities in both social and environmental impacts. The Aquaculture Dialogues are addressing these and standards will be harmonised where it makes sense to do so.
Creating standards which are credible and robust, putting in place multi-stakeholder governance structure which aim to be ISEAL compliant, having third-party accredited, ISO 65 compliant certification processes, all takes time. That is what sets the Aquaculture Dialogues and the ASC apart from other initiatives.
By their nature, it takes a lot of time to ensure every opportunity is given for involvement of all interested stakeholders or stakeholder group representatives, more than 2,000 in total, for them to discuss key social and environmental impacts and agree appropriate standards which will promote improvement. To ensure that the processes and the standards are open and transparent sufficient time should be given for public review.
Eight multi-stakeholder groups - collectively called the Aquaculture Dialogues - are creating global standards designed to minimise the key negative environmental and social impacts related to twelve aquaculture species: salmon, shrimp, tilapia, trout, pangasius, seriola, cobia, abalone, mussels, clams, oysters and scallops. The standards will be as much as possible quantitative performance levels farmers must reach to become certified. More than 2,000 aquaculture producers, conservationists, industrial processors, retailers, scientists and others were included in the process, which is coordinated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The first set of standards, for tilapia, has been completed in December 2009. The standards for pangasius are expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2010 and the remainder will be finalised in the course of 2010/early 2011.
In several Aquaculture Dialogues animal welfare has been a point of discussion. This has been an open and transparent process, in which animal welfare organisations could take part. After long and in depth discussions the stakeholders decided not to include animal welfare explicitly. The focus of the Aquaculture Dialogue standards is on the environmental and social impacts of aquaculture. However, animal welfare will be addressed indirectly in most of the standards by including such criteria as:
- Proper siting of production facilities in good places where the cultured species will be less stressed.
- Setting a minimum survival performance demonstrating that relatively few specimen died throughout the production life-cycle.
- High water quality parameters to ensure good living conditions of cultured species.
- Use of antibiotic medicated feed only under medical supervision (dosing) and to treat specifically sick animals quickly after being diagnosed.
The Aquaculture Dialogues, as well as the ASC, think animal welfare is an important topic and they are aware that there is a growing public concern about this issue. However, more research is needed on this issue (e.g., research on acceptable slaughtering methods and stocking density). Until that research is completed, the Aquaculture Dialogues and th ASC encourage stakeholders to give feedback about this topic, and are open to discussions with them and with other certification schemes on how to address their concerns.
We are happy with the start of an impact assessment study by the EU to see what is the scale and scope of regulatory needs for fish welfare in the European regulations. We will follow this issue with interest. Depending on future developments, there may be a potential in specific countries to partner with other certification programmes, including fish welfare schemes.
Standards are not carved in stone. As science and technology develop, so do management practices and techniques. So once the Aquaculture Dialogue standards are finalised, the ASC will be mandated to coordinate periodic reviews and revisions which will lead to an update of the standards every three to five years, or sooner if warranted, to ensure they are aligned with current technology and trends.
These revisions will be the task of the ASC. The ASC staff will be responsible for collecting and responding to stakeholder feedback on an ongoing basis, and the standards will need to be formally reviewed at least every five years, as per the ISEAL Code of Good Practice. The review and revision of the standards will be the task of the ASC Technical Steering Group which will be composed of members of the Steering Committees of each of the Aquaculture Dialogues, who helped create the original sets of standards. No Aquaculture Dialogue standards will be amended by the ASC without input from these Dialogue participants.
When the ASC would receive a request for the creation of environmental and social responsibility standards for other species it will engage with the relevant stakeholders in order for them to create a standards development process involving a balanced group of stakeholders that will follow the ISEAL guidelines, as has been the case fot the eight Aquaculture Dialogues.
Such an ISEAL-compliant standards development process is of crucial importance in order to ensure that all the standards to be implemented by the ASC are the product of the same rigorous and robust development process. This is the only way in which the credibility and independence of the ASC and its standards can be maintained.
It is true that there are a number of environmental and social issues that are common to several aquaculture products and processes. It is therefore an interesting option to evaluate the possibilities for a 'common basis' for ASC standards, which could then be used as a basis for the development of standards for additional species in which the species- and/or process-specific environmental and social impacts should be addressed on top of the common basis.
The ASC Technical Steering Group that is to be formed will be the appropriate body to be tasked with this evaluation. This too must be a multi-stakeholder, transparent, ISEAL-compliant process.
The development phase requires a wide range of skills comparable to building businesses from ‘start up'. In addition, given the broad range of stakeholders which will be engaged, knowledge of the entire aquaculture value chain is a valuable.
Philip Smith: 'I subscribe to the need for greater awareness of the environmental impact of aquaculture, the need to achieve greater sustainability through more responsible production processes and social practices. I also subscribe to the ‘dialogue' processes set up by WWF to achieve the principles and required standards. With a scientific background in aquaculture and 35 years working experience in all aspects of the aquaculture value chain, I have an understanding of the relevant issues. I find the job interesting and motivating and I do believe it an opportunity to change the way ‘we think' about our industry.
I have worked for organisations all my working life with strong emphasis on strategic planning, business and organisation development, setting and achieving goals as well as strong values and corporate governance. I am open to divergent views of the various stakeholder groups, and with years of experience at senior management and board level, I believe I will be able to engage effectively with them. With proactive communication, I am confident that the ASC will have the best possible chance to position itself as the certification scheme of preference.'