http://bcsalmonfarmers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/BCSFA_ASC_MHCrelease_October72016.pdf
Founded in 2010 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, the ASC is an independent not for profit organisation. ASC aims to be the world's leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood. The ASC's primary role is to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture. Bull Harbour is Marine Harvest’s newest salmon farm location and operated in partnership with the Tlatlasikwala First Nation. Goat Cove farm site is operated in partnership with the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation – a 20 year relationship that sees First Nation and company raise and process salmon for domestic and international markets. “This year marks thirty years since our Nation began raising salmon in our territory,” said Kitasoo/Xai’xais Hereditary Chief Archie Robinson Sr. “We were the first Nation to take the plunge and decades later we continue to take a lead in raising high-quality salmon.” There are currently ten salmon farms in B.C. certified to the ASC standard, and BCSFA members Marine Harvest Canada and Cermaq Canada are the only two companies to achieve the certification for salmon farms in North America. “Our members continue to show their commitment to achieving world class farming practices at all farms by 2020,” said Jeremy Dunn, Executive Director, BC Salmon Farmers Association. “This latest certification of two farms – achieved by BCSFA members Marine Harvest Canada, Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation, and Tlatlasikwala First Nation – is another important milestone toward this commitment.”
Another good short read:
VANCOUVER/HALIFAX — Today’s decision by a renowned seafood recommendation program to label some eco-certified farmed salmon as a “Good Alternative” for consumers is faulty, according to SeaChoice, a collaboration among Canadian environmental groups. Seafood Watch published its recommendations today following a review of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s (ASC) salmon certification standard.
“We’re concerned that the salmon standard — as evaluated by Seafood Watch — is not being applied,” says Kelly Roebuck, SeaChoice representative from the Living Oceans Society. “Every farm certified in Canada departs from the standard and requires variances to the ASC’s environmental health requirements.”
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council is a certification and labelling body for farmed seafood that manages global standards for responsible aquaculture.
Allowing variances to meet the sustainability criteria undermines the salmon standard. SeaChoice does not recognize ASC certified farmed salmon as a “Good Alternative” equivalent for consumers because Seafood Watch did not review these variances in its benchmarking process.
Canadian salmon farms are allowed variances in relation to the standard’s sea lice indicator, which requires fish farm operators to control sea lice while wild juvenile salmon migrate nearby. The ASC now allows British Columbia farms to be certified with more than 60 times the number of lice permitted by the standard.
“We have always maintained that the regulation of sea lice in Canada is inadequate to protect wild fish, especially small juveniles as they begin their migration,” said John Werring, senior policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation. “By allowing variances, ASC has diluted the value of its own standard to protect wild fish.”
Elsewhere in the world, ASC has also approved variance requests that substantially alter the salmon standard in practice. For example, in Chile and Norway, chemical and drug use far exceeds prescribed limits. In Australia, benthic monitoring procedures have been changed in favour of local regulations.
“The ASC salmon standard was set up to be a global gold standard certification through a multi-stakeholder Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue. Now, four years into operations, the ASC is setting new rules that override the dialogue agreements without an appropriate scientific, transparent and inclusive process,” Roebuck said.
SeaChoice is asking the ASC to repeal its variance request processes so that it can legitimately benchmark to a Seafood Watch “Good Alternative” recommendation.
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