ASC Terminates Nova Austral’s Logo License Agreement

Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is aware of the decision by Sernapesca to commence legal proceedings due to the irregularities discovered in their initial investigation of Nova Austral and the admission by Nova Austral of identified ‘occasions of misreported mortalities,’ as a result of its own internal investigation.

In consideration of the seriousness of these proceedings and admissions and to protect the reputation of the ASC, ASC has terminated Nova Austral’s Logo Licence Agreement (LLA) while waiting for the outcome of further investigations by ASC’s third-party certifier. This is consistent with previous actions taken by ASC regarding similar instances of deceptive practices; which are not tolerated.

Upon notification of the termination of the LLA, Nova Austral must:

• Immediately cease the use of the ASC logo and all ASC trademarks for any purpose
• Halt all sales of products that show ASC trademarks.  This includes any product with an ASC chain of custody (CoC) number
• All products not yet identified as ASC certified can only be sold as non-certified product
• Within 24 hours, provide ASCI with a complete inventory of all labelled product, including product that has been marked with CoC numbers
• Inform all clients of the termination of their LLA

This decision is valid for all products with the above labelling status, from all Nova Austral farms, not only those originating from Aracena 3 and 19.

The investigation by third party independent conformity assessment body (CAB) Control Union Peru remains ongoing and may result in further action regarding the certified sites of Nova Austral.

ASC will contact relevant parties including Sernapesca as part of an initiative to develop a risk-based and collaborative approach to determine whether there are broader compliance issues within the Chilean salmon industry.

Update: 22 July

ASC has been informed by third party independent conformity assessment body (CAB) Control Union Peru that it has suspended Nova Austral’s ASC farm certification for a period of at least four months. The date of suspension was July 12 2019 and it applies to all Nova Austral’s certified sites. At present time, this suspension only concerns the farm certification for the said farms, not the chain of custody (CoC) certification. Furthermore, Nova Austral’s Logo Licence Agreement remains terminated.

In order to regain certification following the suspension period, Nova Austral must submit a documented corrective action plan (CAP) which must be approved by Control Union Peru, within 60 days from the date of suspension. If a CAP is not submitted within 60 days, their farm certification will be withdrawn.

During the suspension period, Control Union Peru will perform investigative activities which may include both announced and unannounced visits to Nova Austral sites. If they cannot verify the effectiveness of corrective actions within the required timeframe, certification will be withdrawn.

View Control Union Peru’s letter of suspension. More information on the status of all farms in the ASC programme can be found using the Find a Farm tool on our website.

Update: 15 August

ASC has been informed by third party independent conformity assessment body (CAB) Control Union Peru that it has withdrawn Nova Austral’s ASC farm certification. The date of withdrawal was August 8 2019 and it applies to all Nova Austral’s certified sites. Nova Austral’s Logo Licence Agreement remains terminated. 

 

This page was last updated on August 15, 2019.