The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed seafood. In 2023 , the total global production of ASC certified seafood amounted to more than 2.04 million tonnes , which corresponds to 2.4% of the global aquaculture production , while certified fish accounted for 2.3% of the total finfish global production. Our certification programme uses market-based approaches that incentivise famers to achieve strict standards of environmental and social performance .
The ASC is integrating various species-specific standards into a single ASC Farm Standard to normalize the assessment of common aquaculture impacts. This unique standard will cover all impact areas and currently certifiable species, but it will also facilitate species expansion efforts and metric updates. It includes core indicators for monitoring legal, social, and environmental impacts uniformly, while establishing species-specific limits as necessary (e.g., mortality levels, feed conversion). In this context, t he ASC Species Scope Extension Project aims to tackle unaddressed aquaculture opportunities thought the expansion of the Farm Standard’s scope .
All the submitted new species requests undergo initial evaluation, including species scoring against ASC requirements and data availability checks. ASC also conducts a market analysis for market insights on the species. Upon ASC Board approval, the project Terms of Reference are developed and released for stakeholder consultation. Feedback from these consultations shape white papers, which are documents on various aspects of the species including production insights and challenges. Eventually these species are integrated into ASC Farm Standard, maintaining Principles 1 and 3 , which cover (mostly) general common aquaculture requirements. Additional species-s pecific metrics will be added via the Metrics Methodology, if necessary. ASC considers social and environmental concerns when adding species to the standard, aiming for balanced regulation without hindering aquaculture development or market access. Finally, within this process, ASC further addresses stakeholder’s barriers to engagement in standard-setting, applicable to new species additions. Active participation of stakeholders throughout the entire process, particularly during the white paper development phase, is essential to ensure the transparent and evidence-based inclusion of new species into our standards.