In March 2023, the non-governmental organisation Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) issued consolidated and updated data sets behind the report “Does it do What it Says on the Tin?” and amended the scores after review and engagement with rated organisations.
ASC’s Standards now take five of the six top spots when assessed against the 15 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by HRAS. The ASC Farm Standard and ASC Feed Standard scored the highest accounting for 14 KPIs for each Standard.
Moreover, the 11 ASC Farm Standards covering 17 species and the ASC-MSC Seaweed Standard received the second highest rating, with each Standard scoring 13 out of 15 KPIs. Finally, the ASC Chain of Custody scored 12 KPIs.
ASC welcomes the recognition that it occupies a leadership position among all aquaculture certifications, standards and ratings benchmarked by the review. A total of 17 active schemes were reviewed at the time of publication, covering social indicators on Pathway, Transparency, Monitoring, Remediation and Legal Issues.
Continuous Collaboration and Comprehensive Engagement
“The scores for certification operated by ASC have been updated since the report was published. HRAS would like to recognise ASC’s comprehensive engagement with the NGO and its commitment to public transparency and accountability,” David Hammond, CEO at HRAS said.
Chris Ninnes, ASC’s CEO, commented on the positive engagement of HRAS: “Once we had established that we shared a compelling and common objective to safeguard workers and local communities, the dialogue around this benchmark was very positive and constructive. We worked closely with HRAS and will continue to do so in the future to achieve these objectives and look forward to the many opportunities this will present.”
“We welcomed the scrutiny from HRAS and its independent review; and restate our ethos about the importance of tackling social and human right and to be transparent, accountable and for us and the industry to engage with stakeholders.”
A follow-up report will be published in the summer of this year and again at six monthly intervals, showing the progress that certification bodies have made.
To download the latest report, go to this link.
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.
For more information about ASC please visit www.asc-aqua.org.
