Marine Harvest Commits to ASC Salmon Certification Programme

Leading seafood company Marine Harvest has announced that they will certify all salmon farms against the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Salmon Standard for responsible aquaculture, making it the largest company to date to commit to the ASC certification programme that ensures responsible farming practices.

Marine Harvest, the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon and responsible for nearly a quarter of the Scottish farmed salmon production, will initially roll out certification against the ASC standard of their salmon farms in Norway and Scotland in cooperation with WWF. It is an important step for the farmed salmon market and will have a profound effect on the industry by introducing and standardising best practices for responsible farming practices on a global scale.

The ASC Salmon Standard aims to address the key adverse environmental and social impacts of salmon farming associated with sourcing of feed ingredients, disease transmission between farms and wild salmon populations, controlling escapes into the wild, use of therapeutics and anti-biotics, site impacts, the presence of GMO products in feed and labour issues on farms.

“We are very excited that Marine Harvest has chosen to take the lead in moving the salmon industry towards taking greater responsibility for its environmental and social footprint. Through meeting the rigorous ASC Standard for responsible aquaculture and communicating this to the market through ASC’s on-pack logo, farms can clearly show consumers that their seafood has been produced so that environmental and social impacts have been minimised” stated Chris Ninnes, CEO of the ASC.