Planning

The ASC development phase is scheduled to be finalised in early 2011 with the launch of the ASC label. During this phase, the Aquaculture Dialogues will be finalising the social and environmental standards for 12 species groups of fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Once completed, those standards will be handed over to the ASC as the ‘standards holding body'.

During this phase, the ASC will develop its governance structure, third-party certification processes, stimulate demand for sustainable aquaculture products and build the capacity of producers wishing to be certified as being compliant with ASC standards. The organisation of ASC will be developed in line with delivering these objectives.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) was established in January 2009 to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture, which are under development by the Aquaculture Dialogues. The ASC was co-founded by WWF and IDH.

Business development phase
The business development phase of the ASC started with the appointment of Dr. Philip Smith as Development Director in August 2009. Philip Smith was Managing Director of Marine Harvest Europe, a leading seafood company and largest producer of farmed salmon. Prior to this he held positions as Managing Director of the Aquaculture Feed Division of Nutreco and CEO of EWOS, a leading supplier of feed for the international aquaculture industry.

Philip Smith was tasked with updating the business plan, securing funding, working with stakeholders to develop the governance structure, building the system and developing a strategy for identifying and building a network of auditors and certifiers. In this phase he is seeking support from stakeholders in the seafood value chain to assist in creating a solid base for the ASC when fully operational.

The ASC will start building capacity for auditing and certifying aquaculture production units and the seafood chain of custody. Until the ASC is fully operational, WWF has entered a ‘Memorandum of Understanding' with GLOBALGAP (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.
The partnership between WWF and GG provides the opportunity to 'leverage' synergies and improve efficiency in the certification process. It will not enable products from GG certified farms to be ASC labeled. 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. 

ASC is seeking support of development organisations to assist in establishing producer improvement programmes designed to support transformation at farm level.