The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has published its 2024 Impacts Report, revealing the progress and growth of ASC programmes globally, which have helped deliver a wide range of environmental and social improvements across feed ingredient sourcing, farm operations, habitat protections, fish health and welfare and workers’ rights.
Key 2024 highlights include:
- 2,265 ASC-certified farms across 52 countries – up nearly 10% year-on-year – delivering:
- 3,981 improvements driving environmental sustainability and 3,250 improvements driving social responsibility
- 2.69 million tonnes of ASC-certified seafood – 32% increase from 2023 – sold across 121 countries
- 28,426 ASC labelled products available to consumers – 12% increase from 2023
- 22 feed mills certified against the ASC Feed Standard across nine countries, with an additional 24 in assessment, delivering responsible feed for seven species groups under ASC standards
- 14 active Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIPs) with 139 sites, supporting farms that are not ready or eligible for ASC certification but are committed to improving their farming practices
- 660 stakeholder responses to consultations to drive programme improvements
With aquaculture now supplying more of the world’s seafood than wild capture, ensuring the industry grows responsibly has never been more critical, SAC said. In 2024, the organisation accelerated its mission with increased uptake of farm certification, milestone achievements in feed certification and the finalisation of the ASC Farm Standard.
“2024 was a pivotal year for ASC as we brought feed to the forefront of responsible aquaculture. With the ASC Feed Standard in its first full year of adoption, we saw commitment across the value chain—from feed mills to retailers—driving meaningful change far beyond the farm gates,” ASC Chief Technical Officer Ally Dingwall said.
“ASC-certified sites displayed strong improvements in their performance, taking steps to reduce their impact through conserving biodiversity, addressing climate change, fostering fish health and welfare and improving lives, livelihoods and communities.”
The new ASC Farm Standard unites 11 species standards into a single, rigorous and impactful framework that strengthens requirements, ensures consistency and drives continuous improvement.
