First farm achieves ASC certification through ASC Improver Programme  

An Indonesian shrimp farm—PT. Koyo Segoro Endah (KSE) —has become the first farm to earn ASC certification after participating in an Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP) under the Improver Programme by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).  

ASC’s Improver Programme supports seafood farms that are committed to improving their farming practices through an AIP and are not yet ready or eligible for ASC certification.  

“Our ASC certification means that we now have a place in the global marketplace and are meeting the demand for responsibly farmed shrimp—a milestone we couldn’t have reached without ASC’s Improver Programme” said Rudyanto, Farm Manager of KSE.  

KSE’s journey to ASC certification has been an effort of multiple partners, including processor Sekar Bumi, NGO ThinkAqua, ASC and NGO Yayasan Sinergi Akuakultur Indonesia (YSAI) as implementer for the AIP.  

“The support we received from our partners throughout this process was invaluable. It gave us the knowledge and confidence we needed to move forward to ASC certification,” said Rudyanto.  

“The YSAI team has many years of experience supporting broad improvements in the shrimp sector in Indonesia, and we have been excited to help KSE become an ASC certified farm,” said Kenidas Lukman, CEO of YSAI.  

“Our mission at ASC is to drive the transformation of global aquaculture towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility, but making improvements in that direction hasn’t been possible for many farms,” said Roy van Daatselaar, global lead for the Improver Programme by ASC. “Our Improver Programme gives these farms a well-supported, staged approach to make improvements and ultimately attain ASC certification. KSE’s certification is evidence that step-by-step improvement works, and we extend a big congratulations to them on the great work they have done.”  

“As a quality supplier to global markets, we know that there is increasing demand for ASC certified shrimp. The AIP process gave us a pipeline to supply that demand,” said Pak Gary Iyawan, Operations Director at Sekar Bumi.

About the Improver Programme by ASC

ASC already drives and supports improvements in seafood farming at scale across the world through its certification programme. For those not ASC certified, the Improver Programme by ASC has been created to support farms who are not ready or eligible for ASC certification but are committed to improving their farming practices through an AIP. The combined impact of these many small changes in non-certified seafood farming contribute to ASC’s goal of transforming seafood farming, as a whole, for the future.  

With the programme’s initial focus on shrimp farms, additional species will be eligible in the future.  

When an AIP joins ASC’s Improver Programme, it is supported along one of two routes: AIP to ASC certification or AIP to Better Practices. Through the first route, ASC supports the farm to improve performance to a level at which it is ready to become ASC certified. Through the second route, ASC supports the farm to improve their practices in specific environmental or social areas without ASC certification as the end-goal.  

More information about the Improver Programme by ASC is available, where additional AIP success stories will be covered over time.