Species Extension Project: Catfish

ASC catfish extension: consultation

Consultation period 17 September – 17 November

ASC is consulting stakeholders on the addition of numerous catfish genera into the scope of the ASC programme.

Through this consultation, we seek stakeholder input on:

1. The overall suitability of the ASC Farm Standard requirements in addressing the impacts of catfish farming
2. The proposed species-specific indicator metrics for feed efficiency and maximum fasting duration
3. Further indicators, including:

• • The requirement to stock hatchery-raised fish
  • Mortality limits
  • Stunning methods
  • Antibiotic and parasiticide limits

Please get involved in this consultation through the online survey.

This slide deck introduces the ASC Farm Standard and gives further details behind the consultation topics

ASC is also hosting two webinars introducing the ASC Farm Standard to catfish stakeholders:

• 30 September, 16:00-17 :30 UTC (Americas friendly) register here
• 1 October 8:00-9:30 UTC (Asia friendly): register here

The following resources are available as part of the catfish species scope extension:

• The white paper showing research behind the catfish species scope extension
• More information on the ASC Farm Standard
• The original project terms of reference

If you have any questions, please contact consultation@asc-aqua.org.

In 2021, the ASC Board identified and approved several species to be added to the ASC programme, including the following species of catfish:

• Claridae spp.
  • African catfish (Clarias gariepinus)
  • Claresse (Hybrid of Heterobranchus longifilis X Clarias gariepinus)
  • Vundu (Heterobranchus longifilis)

• Ictalurus spp.
  • Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

• European/Wels catfish (Silirus glanis)

Additional species of catfish may be added to the list in future.

With the Species Extension Project: Catfish, ASC seeks to include multiple catfish species within the ASC Farm Standard, allowing for the expansion of the portfolio of species currently covered by ASC.

The project runs concurrently with the ASC Farm Standard development with the aim to include Catfish in the scope of the ASC Farm Standard. The Standard will be launched approximately in Autumn 2024 and come into effect in Autumn 2025.

The inclusion of additional species in the ASC Farm Standard is a process that needs sufficient scientific data and producer input for the development of a white paper and for setting species-specific metrics according to the Metrics Methodology. Therefore, ASC will evaluate this project after enough satisfactory supplementary information has been collected.

We invite stakeholders involved in the catfish aquaculture sector to provide their input through the Data Submission Portal and stakeholders will be notified about next steps of this project through official ASC channels.

Contact person: Fabiola Mustafaj

Data Submission portal

Documents