Rationale

Aquatic animal health and welfare are crucial for responsible aquaculture and underpin the ASC vision for the development of the industry. Through this commitment, ASC also addresses a spectrum of global challenges, including food security, ecosystem resilience, global warming and threats to public health. By recognising the connection between these issues, aquatic animal health and welfare in aquaculture emerges as a critical focus, providing a holistic approach to safeguarding people, aquatic animals and the environment.

The ASC Farm Standard adopts a comprehensive framework for aquatic animal health and welfare that encompasses ethical, economic, environmental, and regulatory considerations to mitigate risks, and prevents poor aquatic animal health and welfare outcomes.

ASC embraces a definition of welfare defined by the physical and mental state of an aquatic animal in relation to the conditions in which it lives and its capacity to cope with the environment providing opportunities foraquatic animals to ‘thrive’ and not simply survive. This perspective is linked to the concept of Positive Animal Welfare (PAW), which can be characterised by four features: positive emotions, positive affective engagement, quality of life and happiness. These features extend the original Five Freedoms8585Green, T., & Mellor, D. (2011). Extending ideas about animal welfare assessment to include ‘quality of life’ and related concepts. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 59(6), 263–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2011.610283,8686Mellor, D. J. (2016). Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” towards “A Life Worth Living”. Animals, 6(3), 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6030021 to incorporate consideration of quality of life. 

The criteria in this principle cover best practices in handling and slaughter, as well as disease prevention and the use of therapeutants, for fish, crustaceans and molluscs. By promoting high standards of aquatic animal health and welfare, ASC not only reinforces its commitment to responsible aquaculture but also addresses consumer concerns, and contributes to the ethical production of sustainable blue foods.

Rationale

More than 22 million people are employed in the aquaculture industry globally6262FAO SOFIA 2024. The industry is a major contributor to people’s livelihoods and communities. As with any industry, if not carried out with proper care and attention, seafood farming can have negative impacts on people’s wellbeing such as through poor working conditions, social exclusion and land grabbing.

This principle addresses key topics related to the rights of employees, Indigenous people and communities, aiming to protect the human rights of those who work in aquaculture and live in surrounding communities, while acting as a catalyst for broader industry-wide change.

The criteria in this principle draw upon International Labour Organisation Conventions and Recommendations, and are aligned with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)6363https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work6464https://www.ilo.org/ilo-declaration-fundamental-principles-and-rights-work and the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights6565https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf. Alignment with these important international instruments places the respect of human rights and social responsibility at the forefront of ASC’s certification system.

Details of applicable ILO Conventions and other resources can be found in Appendix 1.

Rationale

The aquaculture industry is ideally positioned to help provide the food needed to support a growing global population due to its smaller environmental footprint than many land-based animal sources. Maintaining this advantage requires ongoing stewardship of the environmental impacts. Through the initiatives outlined in this principle, ASC supports the industry to develop in an environmentally responsible manner to meet this challenge.

Aquaculture relies on ecosystems to provide resources, including water, as well as the absorption of its outputs, including waste from farm processes, to operate.1414Gephart, J. A., Henriksson, P. J., Parker, R. W., Shepon, A., Gorospe, K. D., Bergman, K., … & Troell, M. (2021). Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature, 597(7876), 360-365. Without proper management, the environment’s capacity to keep providing these resources and assuming these outputs can be exceeded, leading to concerns about biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, and inefficient resource use.

This principle’s criteria focus on effective resource management, efficient feed use, safe waste disposal – including handling hazardous materials and plastics – and re-use of biosolids. Through these means, ASC-certified farms manage their inputs from, and outputs into, the ecosystem responsibly and contribute to a circular economy (recycling and reusing existing materials to extend their life cycle1515Chary, K., van Riel, A. J., Muscat, A., Wilfart, A., Harchaoui, S., Verdegem, M., … & Wiegertjes, G. F. (2024). Transforming sustainable aquaculture by applying circularity principles. Reviews in Aquaculture, 16(2), 656-673.).

Aquaculture farms affect nearby habitats and species through both siting and operational activities. Choosing farm sites carefully is crucial to protect ecologically sensitive areas and managing farm practices is equally important. This includes managing benthic impacts, controlling nutrient release into open waters, reducing wildlife conflict, and preventing farmed animals from escaping and affecting native biodiversity. Addressing these challenges is key to tackling global biodiversity loss1616Aguilar-Manjarrez, J., Soto, D., & Brummett, R. (2017) Aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management under the ecosystem approach to aquaculture. A handbook. Rome, Italy: FAO..