DNV GL - Business Assurance is accredited to certify salmon farms according to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Salmon Standard. Lerøy Midt is the first customer globally to achieve the certification.
Lerøy Midt staff
ASC Salmon Standard certified farms and products communicate to the consumers an environmentally friendly and social responsible production of seafood. The first certificate was handed over to the Norwegian salmon farming company Lerøy Midt.
“We are proud to have a salmon farm certified with ASC. Achieving this certification is perfectly in accordance with the values in our company and our aim to produce an excellent product in clean waters and in a healthy environment,” says CEO of Lerøy Midt AS Sven Amund Fjeldvær.
“For DNV GL the ASC accreditation is an important step towards meeting the seafood industry’s needs throughout the whole value chain. We expect the demand for eco-labelled seafood to increase in the coming years and the ASC is positioning DNV GL further as the sustainability partner in this market,” says Stefano Crea, Global Director Food & Beverage in DNV GL.
Focus on production
To be certified to the ASC standard, farmers must comply with a set of requirements covering planning, development and operation of their salmon aquaculture production systems. The standard is built on best practices and targets the production and the immediate inputs to the production. Continuous improvement is in focus, and the standard will be periodically updated to reflect the latest scientific knowledge, management practices and technologies.
Meeting the full suite of requirements will require farms to have a high level of transparency and regular monitoring of key indicators. It is also necessary to make performance data available to the public and the ASC.
“Lerøy has followed the development of the ASC standard with great interest and we have also participated in the dialogue around its development. The work with the ASC standard helps us take a step further in our efforts towards sustainable aquaculture, and we will continue the hard work so that other Lerøy facilities can be certified,” says CEO Henning Beltestad of Lerøy Seafood Group.
About ASC
ASC is an independent not for profit organization founded in 2010 by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture. The ASC also work in close cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The strategy of ASC is to use the market forces to transform aquaculture through compliance with standards at the farm level.
www.asc-aqua.org