Review – Freshwater Trout

Review – Freshwater Trout

The goal of the ASC standards is to provide a means to measurably improve the environmental and social performance of aquaculture operations. Each farm standard undergoes periodic review every three to five years to ensure their continued effectiveness. During the most recent review period, it was determined that improvements would be made to the standards for salmon (Smolt [Section 8], PTI [Appendix 7]), pangasius, freshwater trout and shrimp. It is not intended that these will constitute full reviews of the standard, rather a focused review on areas where the effectiveness of a particular standard is not as anticipated during the Aquaculture Dialogues or will not deliver on the intent as set out in ASC’s Theory of Change.

Since the launch of the Freshwater trout standard, various Variance Requests have been received that have illustrated the need to further develop the standard in order to better reflect best management practices for those particular situations. Additionally, this review for instance considers including an indicator limiting the number of escapes and the number of antibiotics treatments, and the certification of salmon smolt production within the standard.