© ASC
According to ASC, 2024 has seen it expand its reach and impact, working with a steadily growing number of farmers, retailers, and seafood suppliers. The organisation notes that its growing impact was evident in the 2023 Impact Report which showcased significant advances within ASC programmes. Additionally, they add that the new ASC interactive Impacts Dashboard launched earlier this year enhanced transparency and highlights the wide range of environmental and social impacts they delivered.
Around the world, ASC's presence is also growing steadily. In its biggest consumer survey carried out to date, ASC was the most recognised and trusted farmed seafood label in all countries surveyed, scoring significantly higher than other responsible farmed seafood programme labels.
A year of milestones
Throughout 2024, ASC continued to support feed mills in becoming certified against the ASC Feed Standard and supported farms in sourcing compliant aquafeeds. Uptake of the Feed Standard has been strong and, to date, 21 feed mill sites have achieved certification in Mexico, Chile, Thailand, Ecuador, Vietnam, Honduras, the UK, Canada and Norway.
In a significant move, ASC is bringing together its twelve species-specific standards into one robust ASC Farm Standard to provide greater consistency across all species covered by ASC. The new ASC Farm Standard will launch in early 2025 and is a major and exciting development to drive meaningful change in the seafood farming sector.
The organisation also continued to advance its Improver Programme, which supports farms that are not ready or eligible for ASC certification but are committed to improving their farming practices through Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIP). 2024 was the first full year of implementation of the Improver Programme, after its launch in September 2023 at the Global Shrimp Forum.
The programme has gone from strength-to-strength with successful collaborations and engagement with stakeholders in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iran, and Ghana. Two participants have successfully achieved ASC certification and another 15 are ongoing, covering more than 125 smallholders.
Impacts around the world
This year, three agreements have been put in place: a five-year agreement with WWF-Malaysia to strengthen collaboration and increase awareness and the number of AIP farms in Malaysia; an agreement implementing a jurisdictional AIP with NGO Kaleka in the Seruyan district of Indonesia; and an agreement towards responsible aquaculture between ASC and Jeonnam Province in Korea, a region responsible for over 60 percent of Korea’s seafood production.
In 2024, ASC officially entered the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese markets to support local partners and raise awareness about the ASC label with consumers. A press lunch was held in Milan for journalists to taste ASC certified seabream and mussels and discuss responsible seafood farming. Two ASC certified farms joined the event and shared their experiences about the value ASC certification has added to their business.
Japan celebrated Sustainable Seafood Week 2024 by presenting a Certificate of Appreciation to comedian Hiroyuki Baba, in recognition for his outstanding contributions over the past two years in raising awareness of the ASC label in Japan. The team hosted a culinary showdown with Baba and popular chef Ryūji featuring sustainable seafood designed to inspire home cooking.
Looking to the future
"I would first like to thank all the seafood farmers that have achieved ASC certification, now in 52 countries, all of their partners in the supply chain that deliver our labelled products into the market and the retailers and food service outlets commitments to stock and sell them. The collective action of all of these clients helps drive our shared ambition to reduce the environmental and social impact of seafood farming," commented Chris Ninnes, ASC CEO, in a press release.
"Looking ahead, 2025 is going to be a big year for ASC and we are all excited about the improvements and opportunities that the next 12 months will bring. We remain committed to our mission of transforming aquaculture for the benefit of people and planet and the launch of our new Farm Standard and the ongoing implementation of the Feed Standard will be pivotal in achieving this. I very much look forward to maintaining existing collaborations but also developing new ones. And I invite everyone to continue to champion the many benefits of sustainable seafood farming throughout 2025," he concluded.
