The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standard for responsibly farmed seafood enables you to demonstrate to consumers that the seafood has been farmed in a way that minimizes social and environmental impact of aquaculture farming. Certification according to ASC standard will qualify you to use the eco-label on products.

The standard for responsible farming is managed by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, whose mission is to achieve environmentally sustainable and socially responsible practices in the aquaculture sector using efficient market mechanisms that create value across the chain.

What is ASC Farm

The ASC Farm Standard sets responsible practices for global seafood farming. Its impact-based sustainability requirements cover animal welfare, farm management, human rights and environmental stewardship for fish, farm, people and the planet.

To be certified against the ASC Farm standard, farmers must comply with a set of requirements of four principles covering:

• Farm management
• Environmental impact of farming
• Human Rights
• Animal Welfare .

The standard focuses on production and its immediate inputs, with requirements that build upon best practices. It aims to be a starting point for continuous improvement and is therefore periodically updated to reflect the best available 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
• Make some performance data publicly available
• Make other performance data available to the ASC.

For ASC, Chain of Custody is certified through application of the MSC Chain of Custody standard and additionally, the ASC chain of custody module specific requirements.

For Seaweed farming, the farmers must apply the joint ASC-MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) standard for seaweed.

Benefits of becoming certified

The ASC Farm certification gives producers several benefits:

• Access to markets with requirement for ASC certified seafood
• Clear and credible communication on responsible farming to customers and stakeholders
• Eligibility for products to carry the ASC eco-label
• Structured stakeholder involvement
• Independent verification of environmental and social best practice
• Assurance to seafood buyers that ASC labelled products come from a certified responsible farm.

Getting started

The first step is to get more information on the certification scheme and become familiar with the ASC Farm standard. The standard is available for download from the ASC website.

Use the documentation and resource hub as a tool to make sure you meet data collection requirements prior to the first audit. Some indicators require data to be collected at least 6 months prior to the first audit.

DNV is an independent third-party certification body accredited for the ASC Farm standard, as well as the MSC Chain of Custody standard and the ASC Chain of Custody module. We can support you with certification to this standard.

Our experts are among the most experienced auditors in the industry, and we can provide certification to the ASC standard for your farm site.