Saving Seafood

ASC and SFP lead Aquaculture Action Alliance into new phase

September 15, 2026 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Utrecht, the Netherlands – Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) are driving the next phase of the Aquaculture Action Alliance, with the organisations jointly taking on the role of interim secretariat to support the next chapter in the Alliance’s growth.

The Alliance was formerly hosted by IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative, as the Aquaculture Working Group. This move marks a new chapter for the coalition, with a stronger focus on coordinated action, broader participation and measurable actions to reduce aquaculture’s environmental footprint.

The Alliance met in advance of the recent Global Shrimp Forum in Utrecht to bring together members to discuss ongoing efforts and progress for credibly measuring and reducing emissions and strengthening the sustainability of aquaculture.

A Call to the Aquaculture Sector

The Alliance is now seeking additional participation from like-minded companies from feed production to retail who share a commitment to drive long-term progress in aquaculture through improvement and sustainability solutions across the supply chain.

Jill Swasey, Director of Impacts, Monitoring & Evaluation at ASC, said, “Aquaculture has tremendous potential to be part of the solution to global food and environmental challenges. The Aquaculture Action Alliance provides an important space for companies to align approaches, share knowledge and identify where collective action can have the greatest impact.”

Braddock Spear, SFP Prospecting and Outreach Director, said, “By working together, leading seafood companies can increase their impact and support for best practices and state-of-the-art solutions. For aquaculture companies looking to compete on reducing carbon footprints, there is no better option than being part of the Aquaculture Action Alliance.”

Established in 2021, the Alliance has developed tools and approaches to help companies measure carbon, water, nitrogen and phosphorus footprints across aquaculture supply chains. In 2026, the focus is shifting from measurement towards coordinated action, supported by three working groups focused on carbon foot printing, priority actions and establishing the Alliance as an independent entity.

Dominique Gautier, Alliance Chair and Director of Sustainability at Seafresh Group, said, “The Alliance achieved a major milestone in 2026. Underpinned by stronger governance and wider ambitions, we are expanding our focus on what actions we, as leading companies, need to take to reduce aquaculture’s carbon footprint.”

Elena Piana, Steering Committee member and Group Sustainability Manager at Regal Springs, said, “Many of the current Alliance members are focused on farmed shrimp and feed supply chains. To clearly establish the aquaculture sector as the leading low-carbon protein provider, we also need more participation from companies producing and trading in other commodities such as salmon and tilapia.”

Feed companies are critical members in the Alliance, given the central role feed plays in the environmental footprint of farmed seafood and its relevance across multiple aquaculture species and supply chains.

Björn Kok, Steering Committee member and Technical Lead Sustainability Metrics at Skretting, said, “Feed companies can play an essential role at improving the sustainability of aquaculture supply chains. The Alliance needs more of these companies at the table to align sustainability metrics and methodology to facilitate implementation of lasting solutions.”

This re-launch of the Alliance is focused on growth and establishing new priorities for turning sustainability commitment into action. ASC and SFP welcome companies across the aquaculture supply chain and interested organisations to join the Alliance and contribute to practical, sector-wide solutions for lower-carbon aquaculture.

For more information or to explore membership of the Aquaculture Action Alliance, contact AquaAlliance@asc-aqua.org for ASC or aquaalliance@sustainablefish.org for SFP.

US senators expand inquiry into shrimp imports, sending questions to certification bodies

June 1, 2026 — U.S. senators have expanded their inquiry into imported shrimp, which they claim “poses serious risks to families’ health,” sending questions to three of the largest seafood certification bodies.

Together, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) have sent a list of questions to the Global Seafood Alliance, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASC launches consultation on guidelines for aquaculture around protected areas

March 19, 2026 —  The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is seeking feedback from stakeholders as it refreshes its guidelines on how aquaculture can be conducted responsibly in and around protected areas, such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and marine reserves.

“As aquaculture becomes central to feeding a growing global population and protected areas continue to expand, there is a clear opportunity to better align food production with conservation goals,” ASC Environmental Standards Coordinator Dan Auwkit said in a release. “By bringing greater clarity to how aquaculture can operate responsibly within or near protected areas, we can support biodiversity protection while enabling responsible aquaculture for the future.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASC adding Atlantic cod to certification program

September 26, 2025 — The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is adding Atlantic cod to its certification program in a move it said was directly requested following stakeholder consultations.

ASC said the species will be added to the certification program in Q4 2025 following a stakeholder consultation that ran from 20 May to 20 June 2025. The majority of the input on the consultation came from Norway – where most of the world’s fledgling cod-farming industry is located.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASC launches ASC Farm Standard

May 15, 2025 — Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) launched its new certification standard for farmed seafood at the Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, Spain. Over 200 attendees from across the supply chain—including producers, retailers, processors, industry bodies, and media—joined the long-awaited launch, which included support from industry guest speakers.

Aligning the twelve ASC species standards into one global standard, the ASC Farm Standard brings greater consistency to requirements across all species standards.

Formally launching the Farm Standard, ASC CEO Chris Ninnes said that “sustainability is no longer a trend; it’s the undeniable future, unfolding now. With the population estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050, and with wild-caught fisheries at capacity, the importance of seafood farming will continue to grow, the environmental and social impacts of our industry must be addressed. That is why ASC is driven to accelerate that transformation, not least by championing farms and feed mills that are making Change.”

ASC director of Standards and Science Michiel Fransen said, “built on four pillars—fish, farm, people and planet—the standard empowers producers to meet regulatory and market demands, enhance farming practices and fish health, prioritise worker and community wellbeing, and protects biodiversity.”

Read the full article at Aqua Feed

Global seafood collaboration updates sustainability data, human rights analysis tool

January 28, 2025 –Amid a seafood sustainability landscape that features several databases, regulations, and benchmarks to measure progress, it can be difficult for retailers, fishers, and other players up and down the seafood supply chain to find consistent data on sustainability and align their processes accordingly.

Aiming to alleviate that issue, the Certification and Ratings Collaboration – a collaboration between some of the world’s most prominent seafood certification programs, including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Marine Stewardship Council, Fair Trade USA, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program – recently released an updated version of its data tool.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASC’s Aquaculture Improver Program helping small-scale farmers bridge the certification gap

June 12, 2024– The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has seen progress in its Aquaculture Improver Program (AIP), a project the council launched to help small-scale fish farmers meet the standards of certification criteria.

The program, originally announced in October 2018 but officially launched at the Global Shrimp Forum in September 2023, mainly focuses on small-scale shrimp farmers in Southeast Asia and Latin America and models itself similarly to how effective fishery improvement projects (FIPs) operate.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Op-ed: Human rights issues in the farmed seafood industry and the role of certification

April 23, 2024 — Chris Ninnes is CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and previously served as deputy CEO and director of operations at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

He has been chair of the ISEAL board since 2018 and chair of the Certification and Ratings Collaboration’s (CRC) Steering Committee since its inception in 2015. The Collaboration consists of the ASC, Fair Trade USA, MSC, Seafood Watch, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, working together to coordinate tools and increase impact so that more seafood producers move along a clear path toward environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

Ninnes’ op-ed was originally published on the ASC website.

The recent investigations uncovering human rights abuses in the farmed seafood industry, most recently in the shrimp industry in India, are very unsettling to read. While we all agree that these abuses should have no place in any industry, the reality is more stark and uncomfortable.

Human rights abuses can be found everywhere, and no system alone is perfect at eliminating all of them. The CRC’s data tool, which was originally developed to collate information about the environmental performance of seafood production from member assessments, now contains a global overview of key social metrics related to their occurrence. Shockingly, there is evidence of forced labor, child labor, or human trafficking within 65 percent of the countries assessed that are involved with 98 percent of seafood production. The frequency of these abuses differs by country, but such evidence is much harder to collect.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Op-ed: Seafood business action on human rights is essential

September 6, 2023 — Chris Ninnes is CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. Brad Spear is global policy director at Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. ASC and SFP are members of the Certification and Ratings Collaboration.

Around the world, seafood production supports more than 600 million livelihoods and feeds more than 3 billion people. Yet significant social responsibility challenges exist in the supply chains of wild-caught and farmed seafood products from around the world.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource