The Aquaculture Stewardship Council or ASC is an organization for sustainable fish farming. Farmed fish has a major impact on the environment. More and more fish sold are farmed, so it is necessary that this is done in a sustainable way. This is stimulated by the ASC logo. People can choose for themselves whether they buy sustainable fish. ASC is a young movement. Only a few varieties are certified. Here information about what ASC is, its founding and reasons.
What is ASC?
ASC is the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. This organization aims to make farmed fish more sustainable. The organization wants to increase the market share of farmed fish without this being at the expense of nature. To do this, the ASC checks for sustainability. Companies that are sustainable receive the ASC eco-label. ASC is not yet well known, but supermarkets are eager to have all farmed fish sold with the ASC logo in 2016. If this is successful, the quality mark can count on great brand awareness.
Incorporation
ASC was founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), but is an independent organization. The first companies have been ASC certified since January 2012. The foundation is inspired by MSC for sustainable fishing and FSC for sustainable forest management and was created because of the increasing quantities of farmed fish and the impact this has.
Why ASC?
Fish farming has a major impact on the environment. The farmed fish are often bred in large nets in the sea, causing food and waste to end up directly in the sea. This attracts other animals, changes their behavior and can throw the whole system into disarray. Even when fish are farmed on land, a lot of waste is produced. This must be processed properly so that it does not end up in the environment. A quality mark, such as ASC, places the choice with the consumer. It appears not to be possible to enforce sustainable fishing worldwide with regulations, but the ASC quality mark allows those who buy the product to choose sustainable.
More than half of the fish consumed is already farmed fish and there is an increasing trend in the amount of farmed fish sold. As more farmed fish is sold, the impact also increases.
ASC and MSC
ASC is a quality mark for farmed fish. In addition to this quality mark, there is also the MSC quality mark for caught fish. Fishing has an even greater impact on the environment than fish farming, as catching fish is now done so efficiently that there is overfishing. This makes the risk of species extinction extremely high. In farmed fish, species will not become extinct anytime soon, but local ecosystems can collapse due to a surplus of nutrients.
What is sustainable?
Sustainability is a broad concept. It is usually set up in such a way that the same method of production can continue for a longer period of time (often 50 years). The disadvantage of this is that you cannot be sure whether something is sustainable. You can only say afterwards whether the production was sustainable, but then it is too late. ASC does not itself determine the sustainability principles. They are determined by consensus over many conversations. 2,000 people worldwide participate in this, including from the fish farming sector, government, science and various nature conservation organizations. The conditions are therefore determined by consensus.
Sustainable on what points?
Sustainability is more than just protecting nature, although this is an important point. ASC therefore not only focuses on limiting damage to the environment, but also on the social aspect of sustainability. Workers must not be exploited and must receive fair wages and good conditions. The economic aspect of sustainability is not taken into account, this is the responsibility of the company itself.
Which types?
ASC is not available for all fish species. Currently, a quality mark is only provided for species that are traded on a large scale. This is where the greatest environmental benefits can be achieved. Salmon, shrimp, tilapia, pangasius, shellfish, seriola/cobia, abalone and trout are already sold with a logo. Other types not yet, but it is expected that this will be expanded in the future.
read more
- Sustainable fish: the Marine Stewardship Council MSC