Aquaculture in Protected Areas

Latest updates

68 stakeholders responded to this consultation. They told us that:

• Compatibility with Protected Areas objectives must be clear
• ASC’s framework should be practical, auditable and consistently applied
• National legal frameworks and existing operations should be considered
• ‘Aquaculture’ should not be treated as a single category
• Compatibility assessments need to consider wider context

Further documents:

• Consultation participants
• Anonymised consultation feedback
• Protected areas consultation briefing deck (English)
• Protected areas consultation briefing deck (Spanish)
• Project Terms of Reference
• Technical Working Group Terms of Reference
• An offline version of the survey questions

Background information

Objectives

This project aims to clarify how aquaculture can operate within protected areas and to ensure that ASC certification requirements are aligned with globally recognised conservation frameworks

• The project seeks to produce a practical, audit-ready framework developed collaboratively with key stakeholders and technical experts.
• The aim is to strengthen ASC’s ability to support biodiversity conservation while enabling responsible aquaculture development.
• These revisions will reduce ambiguity, improve audit consistency, and enhance ASC’s credibility with governments, conservation bodies, and market stakeholders.
• The project addresses environmental risks to biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystem processes in and around PAs. It also considers social impacts, such as safeguarding community and indigenous interests, and potential economic impacts, such as providing clarity for producers and investors
• The project will strengthen ASC’s alignment with other recognised frameworks, including IUCN guidelines, Natura 2000, Ramsar, and World Heritage impact assessment protocols.

Project background

With both global aquaculture and PA systems expanding, there is an urgent need to clarify how aquaculture can operate responsibly within or near PAs and coexist with conservation objectives.

Aquaculture has become the world’s largest source of aquatic animal production, surpassing capture fisheries in 2022. At the same time, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commits countries to protecting at least 30% of land and marine areas by 2030 as well as to effective management and governance.

While the IUCN protected area categories provide a globally recognised framework, inconsistent national adoption and categorisation complicate alignment with certification schemes such as the ASC Farm Standard, which generally restricts 7 7 aquaculture in protected areas with limited, contested allowances in certain categories.