Introduction
About ASC
Learning path CAR – for farm staff
Learning path Groups Certification – for farm staff
The Power of Seafood
A nutritious protein source and a key component of global food security, 3.3 billion people rely on seafood for at least 20% of their animal protein consumption, and between 400 – 600 million people are directly and indirectly involved with the industry11”UN Fisheries Panel (COFI36): Aquaculture as a solution to food insecurity.
With population estimates of 10 billion by 2050, and with wild caught fisheries at capacity, farmed seafood comprises almost 60% of seafood consumed as its numbers and importance continues to grow. Care must be taken immediately to limit the industry’s negative impacts.
Responsible seafood farming eases pressure on natural resources, protects precious ecosystems, promotes economic opportunities and addresses food security challenges, caring for seafood, people and the planet. A crucial link in the circular economy, it upcycles multiple by-product streams into much needed high-quality protein.
Our Vision
A world where seafood farming plays a major role in supplying food and social benefits for humanity whilst minimising negative impacts on the environment


Our Mission
To transform seafood farming towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility, creating value across the chain using market mechanisms, improvement incentives and delivering value-added services from farm to fork
Transforming Seafood Farming
ASC is accelerating the transformation of the farmed seafood industry by:
- Championing Change – raising awareness of what needs to change and collaborating to create pathways for the change required to accelerate positive impact on people and planet, fish and farms.
- Making Change – developing and implementing the world’s leading independent certification and improver programmes for responsibly farmed seafood.
Our supply chain partners choose ASC certification for the most robust standards and the highest assurance ensuring traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain. By choosing ASC labelled seafood, consumers in over 100 countries are contributing to a sustainable future.

ASC Certification
ISEAL Community Membership
ISEAL is a global membership organisation for ambitious, collaborative and transparent sustainability systems, that drives collective efforts to tackle the most pressing sustainability issues and create a world where markets are a force for good.
The ASC Certification Programme is ISEAL Code Compliant. The ISEAL Code is a globally recognised framework that defines best practices for effective and credible sustainability systems.
Certification Programme
The ASC Certification Programme is a voluntary third-party certification programme consisting of the following independent actors:
Scheme Owner: Aquaculture Stewardship Council
As scheme owner, ASC sets and maintains standards and associated assurance documents and their underpinning procedures, as well documents and resources that support the implementation of the Certification Programme.
An overview of all documents and the latest version can be found on the ASC Controlled Document Master List.
Conformity Assessment Body: Provide certification services in accordance with the requirements of this scheme.
The legal entity responsible for the Unit of Certification (UoC), contracts a Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) which employs auditor(s) that conduct an independent conformity assessment (hereafter ‘audit’) of the UoC against the relevant ASC Standard.
The management requirements for CABs as well as auditor competency requirements are described in the CAR document and are assured through accreditation.
Integrity Services Provider and Accreditation Body:
The Integrity Services Provider is appointed by ASC to oversee the integrity of the programme.
Integrity services and accreditation are currently provided by Assurance Services International (ASI), however, ASC is in transition to move the accreditation to Accreditation Bodies (AB) signatories to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) for product certification, while integrity services will remain with ASI.
Findings of ASI assessments and an overview of currently accredited CABs are available on the ASI website.22http://www.asi-assurance.org/s/
Audit Process
An ASC audit follows strict process requirements. These requirements are detailed in the CAR. Only ASC accredited CABs are allowed to audit and certify a UoC against ASC standards.
As scheme owner, ASC is not involved in the audit or certification decision of a UoC.
As part of the ASC commitment to transparency, all findings, audit reports and certificates are publicly available on the ASC website. These include audit findings that result in a negative certification decision.
Certificate
All ASC certificates are available on the ASC website for verification. Issued certificates are the property of the CAB.
Each certificate specifies the scope (i.e., ASC Farm Standard or ASC Feed Standard) and the sub-scope of the certified UoC (i.e., for the Farm Standard: Animal group and species name; and for the Feed Standard: Production Model Type). Several examples are listed below:
- ASC Farm Standard, Sub-scope: Fish, Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)
- ASC Farm Standard, Sub-scope: Crustaceans, White leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)
- ASC Farm Standard, Sub-scope: Molluscs, Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)
- ASC Feed Standard, Sub-scope: Segregation Production model
- ASC Feed Standard, Sub-scope: Mass Balance Production Model
ASC Chain of Custody Certification
Once the ASC certified product leaves the ownership of the farm UoC, each subsequent company in the supply chain that owns ASC certified product must hold valid ASC Chain of Custody certification. This assures consumers and seafood buyers that ASC labelled products come from certified farms. ASC uses the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard, plus the ASC-owned CoC Module, to verify the origin of seafood sold as ASC certified. This process benefits companies that handle both ASC and MSC certified seafood by allowing them to do a combined audit. CoC certification covers activities beyond farm production, such as processing and packing. For more information see Chain of Custody Standard – ASC International or contact info@asc-aqua.org.
ASC Label and Claims
ASC-certified entities shall only use the ASC label, claim, and trademarks if authorised through a signed ASC Licensing Agreement.
Unauthorised label display or use of trademarks is prohibited and will be treated as a trademark infringement. For more information see ASC’s Label User Guide or contact licensing@asc-aqua.org.
ASC Assurance Net
The independent actors and processes described above are interlinked to provide the most robust and reliable assurance system, supported by ASC’s transparent processes and stakeholder participation. The CABs conduct strict audits to verify conformity against the ASC standards. ASI assesses the CABs to confirm that certification was granted following the requirements and with integrity. Both CABs and ASI may conduct these activities unannounced, and all the evaluation results are publicly available for interested stakeholders who may provide additional information to the certification process.
ASC has a dedicated and experienced assurance team that develops the certification requirements. Working closely with assurance partners, ASC monitors conformance across the supply chain.
ASC adds another layer of assurance by designing tailored tools that support additional verification of conformity. These tools evaluate the conformance of ASC products in different stages: Antibiotic residues and provenance (TestASC), verification of production cycles and remote sensing (MapASC), and complete tracking of products in the supply chain (TraceASC).
Group Certification
ASC Group certification provides a more efficient option to certify multiple sites where there is a centralised internal management system in place which assures conformity across all sites. The management system requirements are described in the ASC Group Requirements for Farms document.
One of the key benefits of this type of certification is that a sample of sites is selected for the CAB audits, thereby reducing the audit time compared to auditing and certifying each site individually. The CABs also assess the robustness of the management system and can increase or decrease the sample size based on risk.
Document Structure and Vocabulary
Document structure
The ASC Certification and Accreditation Requirements (hereafter ‘the CAR’) is structured as follows:
- Part A – General Requirements which are defined requirements for CABs to implement in their own procedures and management systems.
- Part B – Operational Requirements which are defined requirements for CABs to follow while auditing Clients and their UoCs against ASC requirements.
Vocabulary use
Intentional language is used in this document to ensure clarity in the following areas:
Modal verbs
- ‘Shall’ denotes a requirement
- ‘Should’ denotes a recommendation
- ‘May’ denotes a permitted course of action
- ‘Can’ denotes a possible course of action
Appropriate vs. Adequate
- ‘Appropriate’ refers to what is suitable or proper for a particular need.
- ‘Adequate’ refers to what is sufficient to meet a need.
‘And’ vs. ‘Or’ in lists
- ‘And’ implies inclusiveness (all items are required).
- ‘Or’ implies exclusiveness (only one of the items is required).
Supporting Documents
Supporting documents are available through ASC’s Controlled Document Master List:
- ASC Farm Standard and associated Interpretation Manual
- ASC Feed Standard and associated Interpretation Manual
- ASC Programme Development and Revision Procedure
- ASC Question for Interpretation Procedure
- ASC Variance Request Procedure
Terms and Definitions
All definitions are published in the ASC Vocabulary Portal. The first instance of a term is highlighted in bold.
Whenever the term ‘Client’ is used in this document, it applies to both the ‘applicant’ and the ‘Client’, unless otherwise specified.