Rationale 2.1

All human activities can have negative impacts on the surrounding environment. Understanding the likelihood of negative impacts occurring from an activity, and the magnitude of that impact, requires a risk-based approach. An Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) is a useful tool to help identify the environmental risks associated with an activity along with actions to help mitigate those risks.

Aquaculture operations take place in a wide variety of environments and contexts. Defining a farm’s particular risks and environmental impacts requires a site-specific evaluation that considers the context-relevant risks for that farm.1717Andersen, L. B., Grefsrud, E. S., Svåsand, T., & Sandlund, N. (2022). Risk understanding and risk acknowledgement: a new approach to environmental risk assessment in marine aquaculture. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 79(4), 987-996. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac028

This Criterion requires that ASC-certified farms identify their potential environmental impacts by conducting an ERA and mitigating identified risks accordingly.

Intent – The aquaculture industry performs comprehensive environmental assessments to address site-specific risks.