Almost half of all seafood comes from aquaculture farms and by 2018 more seafood will be farmed than caught from the wild. Reconciling food security with the protection of aquatic and marine ecosystems is a major conservation challenge. Solutions need to address both the demand of an increasing global population as well as the market forces that supply that demand.
In August 2012 the first seafood bearing the Aquaculture Stewardship Council's (ASC) ‘responsibly farmed’ logo entered the market place. The ASC logo is complimentary to the Marine Stewardship Council's label for sustainably-caught wild fish. The ASC represents the latest major certification initiated by WWF's Markets Transformation Initiative, which uses market forces for conservation benefits across commodities, including forests (Forest Stewardship Council), soya (the Roundtable for Responsible Soy), sugar (Bonsucro), cotton (Better Cotton), palm oil (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and freshwater (Alliance for Water Stewardship).
The ASC logo encompasses a series of standards for major farmed species and was developed through an international, multi-stakeholder process involving c. 2,000 experts globally over 8 years. As with other environmental certification schemes of this magnitude, a commitment to ongoing development and improvement of the standards is critical. The ASC standards contain performance indicators (metrics) designed to improve the viability of threatened and protected species, essential habitat, freshwater quantity and quality, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, and the management of wild fisheries and terrestrial crops used in feed. These measures, as well as social considerations, are formally assessed by teams of independent experts, led by accredited auditors with the technical background to evaluate impacts. Producers are required by the team to improve practices to meet conditions for certification. Auditor manuals contain specific instructions and methods with actionable and measurable steps for producers to implement best practices. Standards also have meaningful data-reporting requirements that will increase global knowledge of aquaculture, and some standards ask producers to initiate area-based management plans to address cumulative impacts. Increased market access, profits and indirect benefits (e.g. public recognition, funding, increased harmony with surrounding communities) are all powerful incentives for those interested in demonstrating commitment to responsible production.
At present, ASC-labelled Tilapia and Pangasius are available to consumers, with further categories that include salmon, bivalves, abalone, freshwater trout, shrimp, Seriola and cobia to emerge over the next year. In the past 3 months leading producers have partnered with auditors in independent certification bodies to field test the standards for salmon, bivalves and abalone, which will move into full use shortly.
Researchers, NGO staff and others should be aware that transparency and stakeholder participation is an integral part of the ASC process. There will be opportunities to influence environmental and social change in regions throughout the world by engaging in ASC assessments. The name and location of farms undertaking assessment will be posted on the ASC website (http://www.asc-aqua.org) 1 month prior to on-site audits, along with the names of proposed team members. Those interested in contributing to assessments for particular farms should contact the certification body responsible for a given assessment directly. Comments or concerns (including team composition) raised by members of both the public and private sectors will be incorporated into decisions made by assessment teams and audit reports will be publicly available via the ASC website.
