The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), an independent, international non-profit organisation that manages the world’s leading certification and labelling programme for responsible aquaculture, is going from strength to strength, with new additions to its commercial team.
Interest in responsible aquaculture certification is growing in Europe and Asia, and the recent appointment of Marcos Moya as Commercial Outreach Manager based in Spain, and Koji Yamamoto as General Manager Japan, will give ASC a boost in these two regions.
“Both Marcos and Koji bring with them a wealth of experience, which will be invaluable in helping to develop greater understanding and uptake of ASC certification in Europe and Asia, and we welcome them to the team,” said Chris Ninnes, CEO of ASC.
“We are entering an exciting time in our development. It is as critical as ever that we continue to be responsive to both the needs of the market and our many stakeholders. Expanding our team allows us to engage with our existing and potential partners more effectively while delivering on an ambitious strategy to further improve the aquatic environment and ensure that farms operate in a manner that benefits their workers and the community.
Marcos has over 30 years of professional experience leading aquaculture projects in South America, Central America, Africa, North America and Europe, and has worked on fish farms and in the wider aquaculture supply chain. His experience of applying responsible aquaculture practices on the ground, together with his knowledge of best practice in seafood processing and solid understanding of the wider benefits of certification, make him an important addition to the commercial outreach team.
With a remit to engage and service producers to make sure that demand for responsible aquaculture production is met in North America, Asia and in Europe, he is well qualified to help the ASC build upon its early successes.
Koji Yamamoto has worked in the aquaculture sector for two decades in Asia and Europe. Koji has recently moved back to his native Japan and has been taped to build the ASC programme in the Japanese market. In addition to engaging directly with retailers and others, Koji will help aquaculture farms move towards more socially and environmentally responsible practices.
His previous roles include working for the Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) supporting small-scale aquaculture projects in South and Southeast Asia, involvement in developing the FAO Technical Guideline on aquaculture certification, and project coordination and field implementation on better management practices (BMPs) and cluster farming approaches to support small-scale aquaculture farmers, for the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia and the Pacific (NACA).
“I am keen to build on the excellent foundations laid by key partners and to help the Japanese aquaculture industry and the wider market to improve overall sustainability and work towards relevant Millennium Development Goals,” said Koji.
These hires are just in the latest for the fast-growing ASC. This summer, the orgnaisation also added support for key stakeholders in central Europe when Anne-Marie Kats joined the team as Commercial Marketing Manager for the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Earlier in the year, sustainably industry veteran Roy Van Daatselaar, previously with IDH, was hired as Producer Support Manager. This new role was created as part of the ASC improver programme and will help farmers of all sizes improve their social and environmental performance.
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About the ASC
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation co-founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) in 2010 to manage the certification of responsible fish farming across the globe.
The ASC standards require farm performance to be measured against both environmental and social requirements. Certification is through an independent third party process and reports are uploaded to the public ASC website.
The on-pack ASC logo guarantees to consumers that the fish they purchase has been farmed with minimal impacts on the environment and on society.
The ASC standard addresses the following seven principles:
- Legal compliance (obeying the law, the legal right to be there)
- Preservation of the natural environment and biodiversity
- Preservation of the water resources and water quality
- Preservation of the diversity of species and wild populations (for example, minimising escapes that could become a threat to wild fish)
- Monitored and responsible use of animal feed and other resources Animal health (no unnecessary use of antibiotics and chemicals)
- Social responsibility (for example, no child labour, health and safety of employees, freedom of assembly, community relations).
For more information about ASC please visit www.asc-aqua.org.
Source: Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)
