The increasing preference of consumers for responsibly farmed seafood has propelled the growth in the number of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)-certified salmon farms to 609 as of January 2022, up nearly 20 percent from January 2021.
The first annual report released by the Netherlands-headquartered organization also revealed that based on the total volume of salmon that’s ASC-certified, salmon accounted for 33 percent of all available ASC labelled products.
There were 6,912 ASC-labelled salmon products as of January 2022, up 14.4 percent from the previous year. This amounts to 109,719 tonnes of ASC-certified salmon products.
“This shows that global retail markets continue to demonstrate a strong preference for salmon,” the organization told SalmonBusiness.
ASC certification requires that seafood farms meet robust environmental and social standards. Founded in 2010 by the World Wildlife Fund and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative), the ASC is the first standard to take into consideration all major impacts of feed ingredient production, which is the biggest source of emissions in aquaculture.
A survey by ASC in 2018 showed that majority (92 percent) of ASC-certified seafood farmers found that ASC certification enhanced their reputation; 90 percent benefited from meeting buyers’ preference; and 87 percent gained access to new market opportunities.
