Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)

What is it?

The feed standard adopts a holistic approach covering both environmental and social responsibility within the feed mill and throughout its supply chain covering multiple feed ingredients.

The ASC feed standard was launched in June 2021 and feed mills were able to apply for certification in January 2023. The standard is applied to both the feed mill itself and the ingredients it uses.

Under the standard, marine ingredients should be increasingly sourced from responsibly managed (MarinTrust and MSC) fisheries.

ASC-certified feed mills are also committed to transitioning towards a deforestation and land-conversion-free supply chain.

Mills must either source soy, palm oil, and plant ingredients from low-risk supply chains or have a public commitment to achieve low risk with an action plan, milestones, and target date (in accordance with the Accountability Framework Initiative).

Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-compliant feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.

Under Principle 1 – The unit of certification (UoC)  has a management system to implement the ASC feed standard, including operating legally, and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Criterion 1.21 – The UoC uses energy responsibly and monitors Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the UoC shall identify all energy sources, calculate and report energy consumption, develop an Energy Efficiency Management Plan to improve energy efficiency, increase the proportion of energy from renewables, and identify responsible practices to move toward responsible practices within a meaningful timeline.

Under Principle 2 – The unit of certification (UoC) sources ingredients responsibly, the UoC shall conduct due diligence on ingredient manufacturers and primary raw material production – where due diligence is a pathway to understand the origins and potential impacts of the ingredients in aquaculture feed.

The UoC shall have a system to ensure it only sources from supply chains where the outcome of the due diligence on the ingredient manufacturer indicates low risk at least for the following risk factors:

• Legal – The risk that primary raw material originates from areas affected by poor regulatory oversight resulting in either systematic illegal fishing within the fisher for marine-based ingredients or systematic violations of land use or environmental laws and regulations for plant-based ingredients.
• Social – The risk that primary raw material is produced using forced labor or worst forms of child labor for both marine and plant-based ingredients
• Environmental – The risk that primary raw material originates from unreported or unregulated fishing, species that are IUCN endangered or critically endangered species, and species caught that appear in the CITES appendices for marine-based ingredients; or originates from areas resulted from illegal deforestation/conversion for plant-based ingredients. Plant-based ingredients used by the UoC also need to be assessed for their level of risk related to (legal) deforestation and land conversion
• Find an ASC certified feedmill here.

What is it?

Used as one of the pathways to demonstrate low risk in the sourcing of marine and plant-based ingredients in the ASC Feed Standard, the ASC Country scorecards are a tool that classifies different risk factors associated with the sourcing and use of aqua feed ingredients into low, medium and high risk for the country of origin. 

• For assessing plant-based ingredients, it is the country in which the plant was produced or grown. 
• For assessing marine ingredients, the flag state of the species caught is used. If the flag state is not known, use the fishing area to identify the possible flag state(s) and then select the country with the highest risk score.

Scorecards are based on a range of datasets from multiple quality third-party indicators.

What is it?

The list is used as one of the pathways to demonstrate low risk in the sourcing of marine and plant-based ingredients and outlines what schemes ASC considers to demonstrate low risk in the sourcing of marine and plant-based feed ingredients and if they meet all legal, social, and environmental risk categories.

What is it?

The ASC Farm standards cover multiple farmed species to ensure that:

• Certified farms actively minimize their impact on the surrounding natural environment; and,
• Certified farms operate in a socially responsible manner, care for their employees and work with the local community.

Criteria under the various species standards vary, but address the following key impact areas where applicable:

• Biodiversity – farms should minimize their impacts on the local ecosystem in several ways, including ensuring that farms are not sited in areas with key biological or ecological functions, fish escapes must be minimized; 
• Feed (species dependent) – farms adhere to strict limits to minimize their use of wild fish as an ingredient for feed and ensure full traceability back to managed or certified sources;
• Pollution – farms are required to measure various water parameters (nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen levels, etc.) and remain within set limits;
• Diseases – farms are required to adhere to rigorous requirements to minimize disease outbreaks; and,
• Social – farms are required to adhere to strict requirements based on the core principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), these include prohibiting the use of child labor or any form of forced labor.

*Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-compliant feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.

What is it?

The  Improver Programme by ASC provides producers with two routes to drive improvements in aquaculture production, via the creation, launch, and implementation of Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIPs): 

1. AIP to ASC certification; and, 
2. AIP to Better Practices for producers who do not wish to become ASC certified but who still want to improve their performance concerning a specific environmental or social issue or issues.

You can view AIPs here

What is it?

The ASC Chain of Custody Standard is a traceability and segregation standard that applies to the full supply chain from a certified farm to the product carrying the ASC label. 

Each company in the supply chain handling or selling an ASC-certified product must have a valid ASC Chain of Custody certificate. This assures consumers and seafood buyers that ASC-labeled products come from a certified responsible farm.

There are three versions of the standard:

1. Default – For companies handling ASC-certified seafood products in one or a few locations.
2. Group – For companies with a central office function and many locations that handle ASC-certified products.
3. Consumer-facing – For companies that sell directly to consumers, such as caters or fish counters.

*Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-compliant feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.