The Aquaculture Stewardship Council is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed seafood. The ASC uses market-based approaches to incentivise famers to achieve strict standards regarding environmental and social performance. Currently, the ASC standards cover 17 species groups under 11 standards, plus a joint ASC-MSC standard for seaweed. Standards development to date have been multi-year dialogue processes involving many stakeholders from academia, producers, ENGOs, and others. While these processes have resulted in robust standards, they are lengthy and do not allow for a quick response to new or emerging species in the market. To respond to requests more quickly for new species standards, the ASC has outlined a niche species process.
Developing in concurrence with our aligned Farm Standard, the niche species project recognizes that many impacts of aquaculture are based on the production system, rather than only being species dependent. The Farm Standard will include a core set of indicators and will monitor ecosystem impact consistently across species and regions and set species-specific limits where necessary (e.g., mortality levels, feed conversion, etc.). Therefore, this is the perfect time to create a framework outlining necessary metrics and indicators required to more quickly add new species.
The niche species development itself begins with an analysis of market demand and emerging species in aquaculture production. Priority species are then entered into a risk matrix, which identifies areas of environmental or social concern. For example, species that are highly invasive, require wild caught broodstock, or which present concerns from a human welfare perspective will be flagged. While not necessarily meant to eliminate these species from consideration, the risk matrix will highlight areas which may require further investigation or consultation. A list of potential species for inclusion will then be reviewed by the ASC Supervisory Board, who provide the final decision on which species shall be developed.
The ASC has partnered with catfish and pikeperch producers in Europe to gather data and develop metric limits for these species. Trials will be conducted with these farms to test the process, after which a formal addition to the Standards can be released.
In combination, the Farm Standard and niche species projects will improve the ASC in several ways. First, the volume of aquaculture production able to be certified will increase with each additional species added. Second, a consistent set of standards across species will allow for us to better determine impact. Further, the development of improved reporting templates outlining metrics requirements across species will allow for trend analysis and robust impact reporting.