Aquaculture Stewardship Council Sustainability

Sustainability Summary

Verified

Independent global standard for responsibly farmed seafood — label appears on certified products.
Audits cover water quality, fish welfare and workers' rights at certified farms.
Non-profit working with farms, retailers and NGOs to improve aquaculture worldwide.

What do our labels mean?

About the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)

Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), an independent non-profit organisation, is driving the improvement of environmental and social practices in seafood farming through its leading, third-party assured certification programme. 

ASC certification delivers measurable impact in aquaculture through science-based requirements—developed and revised through multi-stakeholder processes—covering biodiversity, animal welfare, greenhouse gas emissions, feed ingredient sourcing and human rights, all independently verified.  
The ASC sustainability label on products provides proof that the seafood originates from farms certified to the robust ASC environmental and social standard, enabling credible substantiation of sourcing claims and making it the most globally recognised and trusted label for farmed seafood. 

ASC is setting the standard for farmed seafood. www.au.asc-aqua.org

About Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Status

Website
Visit Website

Employees
100 - 500

Industry
Non-profit

Country
Australia

Founded
2010

Aquaculture Stewardship Council Sustainability Actions

We develop and manage the strictest standards in the industry.

These standards include hundreds of requirements covering the potential impacts of aquaculture – including water quality, responsible sourcing of feed, disease prevention, animal welfare, the fair treatment and pay of workers and maintaining positive relationships with neighbouring communities. To become ASC certified, a farm is assessed by an independent organisation against every single requirement in the relevant standard. If it passes the audit, seafood from the farm can be sold with the ASC logo, which allows consumers to reward these responsible farmers by purchasing their products.

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ASC Impact Tracker

Data gathered by ASC is used to quantify programme impacts, to drive future improvements to the ASC standards and to support us in championing change through our collaborations and partnership. Dive into our Impacts Tracker to learn more about the growth of the programme.

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2.04M tonnes of responsible seafood

In 2023, ASC certified farms produced 2.04M tonnes of responsible seafood, delivering an additional 6.4% in ASC labelled products to consumers worldwide in 17 more countries.

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Environmental & Social Improvements on Farms

In 2023, our certified farms delivered over 4,000 environmental and over 3,000 social improvements on farms. Trained auditors conducted over 1,300 audits across 51 countries and we celebrated an 89% retention of certified farms in our programme.

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Improver Programme by ASC

At ASC, we see the power in small changes as well as big ones. We already drive and support improvements in seafood farming at scale across the world through our certification programme, and now we want to support farmers making a positive impact on the farming that is not certified. The Improver Programme by ASC supports farms who are not ready or eligible for ASC certification but are committed to improving their farming practices through an Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP). We recognise the opportunity in the total impact of all of these smaller changes so that even in non-certified farming every small improvement takes us closer to our goal of transforming seafood farming, as a whole, for the future. After a successful pilot phase, the Improver Programme by ASC is now fully operational and interested in hearing from shrimp farms across the world who would like to make a positive impact.

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Aquaculture Stewardship Council Sustainability Commitments

2025

New ASC Farm Standard

The new ASC Farm Standard unifies previous species-specific standards into a single, streamlined framework built around four core principles: legal compliance and effective business management; environmental stewardship; respecting and promoting human rights; and responsible animal health and welfare practices.

2025

ASC Feed Standard v1.1

To align feed to farm reporting data with the upcoming ASC Farm Standard and EU legislative requirements, ASC launched a stakeholder consultation on proposed updates to the Feed Standard. The Feed Standard v1.1 includes post-consultation changes to greenhouse gas reporting requirements in recognition of data limitations. Other changes include enhancements to the ASC Greenhouse Gas Calculator, adding additional clarity on its methods and data sources, along with added flexibility to deforestation/conversion cutoffs for lower-risk ingredients.

2025

CAR: Assurance Requirements Supporting the ASC Farm Standard

The CAR outlines the assurance requirements and processes that will support the ASC Farm Standard and the ASC Feed Standard certification programmes. The new version of the CAR includes a number of improvements including streamlining the audit process from application to certification, simplification of Group Requirements, updates to critical non-conformity actions, amendments to auditor and CAB personnel competency, and an amended unannounced audit programme based on number of clients.

Sustainability Summary

Aquaculture Stewardship Council Sustainability Profile

Sustainability Summary

What do our labels mean?

About Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Aquaculture Stewardship Council Sustainability Actions