Standard in development – ASC Farm Standard
The alignment process will lead to a single farm-level standard. The aim is to provide greater consistency and harmonise requirements across all farmed seafood species currently targeted by ASC.
Currently, ASC manages a number of separate farm standards covering different species. They all provide industry-leading, robust environmental and social requirements, but because they have been developed at different times their requirements vary on some of the impacts that are common across aquaculture. The aligned Farm Standard will cover all impact areas in one rigourous standard, which includes species-specific requirements where relevant. This alignment will also allow the ASC to more efficiently expand its reach (e.g. adding production systems or new species) and will facilitate the swifter update to specific metrics.
ASC Farm Standard
The ASC Farm Standard
Linked to the ASC Vision, the Scope of the ASC Farm Standard (hereafter “the Standard”) addresses the key negative environmental and social impacts associated with the aquaculture industry. An ASC-certified farm contributes to the ASC Vision by reducing, mitigating or eliminating such negative impacts.
The current ASC species Standards contain 7 Principles, the ASC Farm Standard will have 3 Principles setting effective and credible requirements. The Units of Certification (UoCs) will include various aquaculture production ‘Farm’ systems and some at ‘Processing’ level. The ASC Farm Standard will have production-system specific criteria (where needed/applicable) and species-specific metrics (where needed/applicable).
- Principle 1 (P1): The UoC operates legally and applies effective business management.
- Principle 2 (P2):The UoC operates in an environmentally responsible manner.
- Principle 3 (P3):The UoC operates in a socially responsible manner.
An earlier draft of the Standard (Public Consultation II [March 14 – May 14, 2019]) had focused on the ‘Legal’ (P1) and ‘Social’ (P3) Principles. That round of public consultation also included that of revisions to the Certification and Accreditation Requirement (CARv2.2) document, which notably introduced a new Social Auditing Methodology (SAM) including a Social Risk Assessment tool.
Contact person: Michiel Fransen
Consultation best practice
The ASC is the only aquaculture certification scheme to be recognised as full member of ISEAL, the global membership association for credible sustainability standards whose members meet internationally accepted best practices.
The ASC’s public consultations follow ISEAL’s Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards , which stipulates that stakeholders have sufficient time and opportunity to provide input on the standard and can see how their input has been taken into account.
Next steps
Feedback from both consultations will be used to adapt the proposals. The Farm Standard’s P1 and P3 requirements, covering legal and social indicators respectively, are currently being finalised following feedback from stakeholders and are due to be released this year. The Standard will capture evolving best social and environmental aquaculture practices and be streamlined to ensure consistent auditing is possible.
The next round of public consultation for the remaining P2 indicators will take place in September 2021. After this feedback has been collated and reflected upon, a final round of public consultation on the complete proposed P2 will take place in 2022, with a release later in the year and a target to introduce the P2 requirements on farms in 2023.
Timeline
More information
- Public Consultation on the proposed ASC Farm Standard (Principle 2/’P2’)
- FAQ ASC Farm Standard (Principle 2)
Consultation period:
- 8 March - 7 May 2021
- Status: Closed
Consultation documents III
Documents
Consultation period:
- 14 March - 14 May 2019
- Status: Closed
Public Consultation II
Documents
- ASC Farm Standard Public Consultation Draft 2019
- ASC CAR Public Consultation Draft 2019
- ASC Social Auditing Methodology Narrative Draft 2019
- Annex F - Templates for social auditing
- ASC Social Risk Assessment Calculator
Received feedback
Consultation period:
- Aug. 19 - Oct. 19, 2016
- Status: Closed
Public Consultation I
Documents
Background papers
Received Feedback
Governance
Governance Documents
Documents
Other documents
You might also be interested in...
CAR Review