Fish Welfare project

From 1 March to 30 April 2023, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is running a stakeholder consultation on three major topics, two of which are part of the upcoming ASC Farm Standard: Water Quality (Criterion 2.7) Fish Health and Welfare (Criterion 2.14).

ASC welcomes feedback on the proposed indicators, metrics, and their clarity, implementation, and auditability, as well as collection of data and literature.

For more information, please visit the Alignment: ASC Farm Standard page.

Animal – including farmed aquatic animal – welfare is increasingly considered as a key factor in defining ‘responsible’ production and determining the social acceptability of an animal production system. The quality of products coming from these systems are increasingly being judged on this.

The main objective of this ASC work is to expand the current indicators on fish welfare in ASC’s existing standards to a more comprehensive set of best practice indicators across all species currently within scope of ASC’s Standards. This will use extensive recent research in this area and expertise from across relevant sectors. It is foreseen that the indicators developed as a result of the ASC’s Fish Welfare project will be embedded within the aligned ASC Farm Standard currently in development.

ASC launched this ‘Fish Welfare’ project with an initial Public Consultation in 2019 (September 20-October 20, 2019). A second consultation took place in September and October 2021, which sought feedback on the initial recommended approaches developed by the Technical Working Group (TWG) as well as targeted practical and technical input from producers and retailers. Currently, the Animal Welfare TWG is developing content on some additional fish welfare issues and will consider consultation feedback and revise proposals accordingly. In September and October 2022, the full set of draft fish welfare indicators will go through a final round of consultation.

Contact person: Meritxell Diez Padrisa – Fish Health and Welfare Standards Manager

Timeline