ASC Statement on Ukraine

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and all its staff are deeply concerned, saddened, and opposed to the tragic situation unfolding in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, and our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people.

As an organisation we stand firmly for the respect of not only environmental but also social values. The respect of human rights is one of the fundamental requirements we expect of all ASC certified farms, and it is also something everyone should expect from anyone they do business with. We would like to set out what we are doing at ASC to ensure we can continue to live up to this core belief.

Most importantly, as a team we have discussed how we can help support the Ukrainian people caught up in this tragic situation as effectively and quickly as possible. We are planning to support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine with a financial donation.

We have also investigated whether there are any connections between ASC and Russian businesses. We receive no funding for the use of the ASC logo from companies based in Russia nor receive any donations or grants from sources in Russia.

There are also no ASC certified farms in Russia.

ASC fully supports the wider international efforts to sanction the Russian economy. In line with this we have also been working with Assurance Services International (ASI), the independent company that oversees the work of our certification companies. ASC fully supports their recent statement, which suspends the geographical scope of “Russia” for all the programmes that they oversee. As such, certification companies will not be able to conduct any new certification activities in this country. Further, ASI will not accept any new oversight work in Russia.

The ASC has from its inception been a genuinely international and collaborative organization with a multi-national, multi-cultural team working together in countries all over the world. We understand that the unjustifiable actions of the Russian government do not represent the wishes of every Russian, and we stand in solidarity with all people in Ukraine, Russia and the rest of the world who oppose this invasion.