ASC – Farm Standards
Global
What is it?
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, international non-profit organization that manages a leading certification and labeling program for responsible aquaculture.
Together with their partners, they run a program to transform seafood farming globally and promote the best environmental and social aquaculture performance towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
- 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.
- 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, and 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), which include prohibiting the use of child labor or any form of forced labor.
- Default – For companies handling ASC-certified seafood products in one or a few locations.
- Group – For companies with a central office function and many locations that handle ASC-certified products.
- Consumer-facing – For companies that sell directly to consumers, such as caterers or fish counters.
ASC is currently bringing together its twelve species-specific standards into one robust ASC Farm Standard to provide greater consistency across all species.
What is it?
ASC Farm standards cover multiple farmed species to ensure that:
Criteria under the various species standards vary, but address the following key impact areas where applicable:
*Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-conforming feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.
What is it?
ASC Chain of Custody (CoC) certificate holders are certified against the MSC CoC Standard – a traceability and segregation standard applicable to the full supply chain – and strengthened by the ASC module. This standard 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 certified, responsible farms.
There are three versions of the standard:
*Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-conforming feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.