ASC success at Seafood Expo North America

Delegates heard the latest news from ASC and listened to the experiences of Chilean salmon producer AquaChile and North American retailer Loblaw.

AquaChile's CEO, and Co-chair of the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI), Alfonso Marquez talked about GSI’s commitment to ASC, the advances it has made towards greater sustainability, as well as the challenges the industry faces in ensuring improvements on the water. While, Loblaw’s Senior Director, Sustainability, Melanie Agopian reflected on business opportunities for ASC certified seafood.

ASC’s Commercial Marketing Manager Esther Luiten provided an update on the current market uptake of ASC certified products, covering volumes available and opportunities for the US market.

During the session, ASC’s CEO Chris Ninnes discussed the ASC programme’s growth and development over the last year, including an overview of the standards now available and ASC’s cooperation with the two other major international certification programmes in farmed seafood, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and GLOBALG.A.P.

“We’ve had quite a year, following the GSI commitment in 2013 we now have five ASC certified salmon farms and salmon products are already available in the market including, for example, in the Netherlands and Japan,” said Mr Ninnes. “In total 75 farms are certified. In only 20 months we have reached 955 approved ASC certified products in 36 countries. And, it shouldn’t be too long before bivalves, abalone, freshwater trout and shrimp products become available as well.

“I want to thank the farms and companies that have committed to ASC certification for their support for responsible aquaculture. In doing so they join a market for responsible seafood which is growing in global significance.”