The announcement this week by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) that more than 200 farms have achieved ASC certification in 23 countries, and 100 more are in the process, is “hugely exciting and a clear indictor of the growing importance of responsible aquaculture,” according to CEO Chris Ninnes.
The programme now has an estimated total production volume of certified and under assessment seafood, of more than one million tonnes.
“I am proud of the way in which the organisation has developed and grown and believe we are in a good place. We are still essentially a start-up, founded in April 2010, with the first products reaching the market in late 2012, so we have come a long way in terms of producer uptake and market penetration,” said Ninnes.
ASC is now liaising with retailers and foodservice companies to grow interest in ASC certified products, and working with producers to balance supply with demand.
“Although ASC products are available in 54 countries, to date the main focus has been on Northern Europe. The recent commitment from major players such as Lidl, Albert Hein, Colruyt, Aldi, Jumbo and PLUS, together with a huge uptake in the number of Chain of Custody certifications, is testament to the efforts we have put in to help the supply chain understand the important of certified aquaculture production.
“In Japan, AEON is now committed to selling ASC certified shrimp products, Woolworths is selling ASC certified tilapia products in South Africa, and Coles in Australia has introduced ASC certified salmon in their deli.
“And of course, the global commitment by IKEA to offer only ASC certified farmed seafood across all their stores in 47 countries, and the pledge by the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to source seafood from ASC certified farms for athletes and spectators, are both major leaps forward for the programme,” said Ninnes.
Over the last few months, salmon has become the number one species, overtaking pangasius as the most popular certified product.
“This has been helped considerably by the commitment of the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) to ASC, and a lot of salmon farms are now going through certification, because they see the benefits of doing so for the environment, their farm workers and the local communities. Certification in turn will drive sales of ASC salmon in new markets, because it is a key species in many countries. In this way, the relationship between GSI and ourselves is mutually beneficial, providing additional visibility for us and credibly for them,” said Ninnes.
He is pleased that 2016 will see the organisation move closer to being financially self-sufficient, and in a shorter time-frame than originally envisaged.
“This, together with continued support from charitable foundations, will allow us to expand into markets where we do not currently have a physical presence, particularly North America and Asia. We are keen to grow these markets as the number and variety of ASC certified products grows, and to develop our global vision.
“It also means that we can expand our outreach, and we are looking forward to having our first staffer in the US and in China. By continuing the model of home-based working, we will keep overheads down, and maximise efficiency,” said Ninnes.
ASC continues to collaborate with GlobalGap and the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), who also have aquaculture certification programmes, but each has a different focus. “It’s important not to duplicate effort and build up unnecessary costs,” said Ninnes.
To this end, he sees one challenge for 2016 as the need to create efficiencies in the certification process, making it more streamlined and effective, and more attractive to producers and sellers.
Standards for seriola and cobia will be finalised in the spring and added to the list of species offered for certification, and there is already a flurry of interest from producers.
Interest is also running high in the new group certification scheme, with a pilot planned for March and April.
“Audits were originally created for individual farms, but after listening to our customers, we have adjusted our requirements to enable groups of small-scale farms to work collectively to become certified.
“We are thrilled that so many producers have made the choice to engage with the ASC and equally pleased that the pipeline of farms under assessment maintains this strong growth. It looks set to be an exciting year ahead,” said Ninnes.
