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SeaChoice study on ASC's salmon standard review. (Photo: SeaChoice)
SeaChoice offers further insight into its ASC salmon standard report
(CANADA, 10/25/2018)
The conservation organisation SeaChoice has decided to provide further information on its latest global report on Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) farmed salmon standard in response to recent criticism.
The report, Global Review of Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Salmon Standard, provides the rationale and options for immediate and medium-term actions the ASC can take to reform key deficiencies and maintain or enhance the scheme’s credibility and its positive environmental and social impact.
The above mentioned study assesses whether 257 farms from the main salmon farming regions in Norway, Australia, Canada, Chile and Scotland meet 100 per cent of the requirements of ASC standard. To this end, they analyzed every audit from the first one in 2014 to March 2018, and, additionally, they reviewed whether performance on Standard key indicators has changed over time.
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Foto: Seachoice-ASC-Global-Review-Summary / seachoice.org
The NGO examined farm’s forage fish dependency ratios and determined that certified farms have improved their fishmeal dependency ratios over time, stating that 95 per cent of farms can easily meet version 1.1 Standard requirements. Therefore, they recommend that the ASC consider further reductions to reflect current best practices.
Furthermore, SeaChoice’s review analyzed the Certification Accreditation Requirements (CAR), an auditor guidance document, and found deficiencies. For example, they explain that certified farms in major non-conformance with the Standard have sold and are able to sell their product with the ASC logo. In their view, this demonstrates the CAR’s suspension and withdrawal rules need strengthening.
In addition, the NGO warns that some ASC amendments were found to be undermining the organisation’s theory of change by eroding the best practices codified in the Standard.
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Foto: Seachoice-ASC-Global-Review-Summary / seachoice.org
The reports outlines that the variance request (VR) approval process lacks stakeholder engagement as well as independent technical and scientific advice and that as International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling (ISEAL) members, ASC follows defined codes of practices.
In this regard, SeaChoice expressed its intention to continue to advocate for an inclusive and transparent VR process until such time as ASC has publicly moved toward stakeholder and technical inclusion.
SeaChoice’s review also found some variances can enable farms that would otherwise be in major non-conformance with the Standard to be certified. They point out that ASC’s own accreditation body Accreditation Services International (ASI) warned ASC that such VRs substantially alter the intent of the Standard and are “probably putting at risk the program integrity”.
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Foto: Seachoice-ASC-Global-Review-Summary / seachoice.org
Their report states that ASC’s interpretations to be problematic and mentioned the case of an ASC interpretation that allows auditors to omit intermediary stages from compliance. In their opinion, an ASC label does not guarantee the fish was “farmed responsibly” from egg to harvest and it also means an ASC-certified salmon in Australia or Canada is not held to the same level of scrutiny as an ASC-certified salmon farmed in Chile or Norway.
Furthermore, the NGO stressed that ASC’s proposal for their Parasitcide Treatment Index (PTI) operational review takes an approach that is more aligned with an aquaculture improvement project (AIP) model and not that of a "best practices" certification.
SeaChoice states that eco-certifications, when done right, can help drive important sustainability gains and advocates for consumers and retailers to use credible eco-certifications to guide their seafood purchasing decisions.
“We will continue to work with the ASC, through various mechanisms, to ensure the intent of the Salmon Standard is upheld,” the NGO statement concludes.
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