The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has appointed Accreditation Services International (ASI) as its independent accreditation body as it moves towards its core task of managing the ASC standards, developed by the Aquaculture Dialogues, and the implementation of a global certification process for aquaculture.
“We are pleased that we can start working on the implementation of the Global Standards for Responsible Aquaculture in close cooperation with ASI,” said Philip Smith, CEO of the ASC. “We are now in a position to set up an independent third-party verification scheme and work with producers and certification bodies to develop robust processes for certification against the standards.”
Three sets of Global Standards for Responsible Aquaculture have been completed by the Aquaculture Dialogues so far: for tilapia, pangasius and bivalves (clams, mussels, oysters and scallops).
Standards for six other aquaculture species (abalone, freshwater trout, salmon, shrimp, seabass and cobia) are expected to be finalised towards the end of 2010 or early 2011.
ASI is an independent accreditation body which delivers accreditation and other services to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and other certification schemes worldwide.
Sam Ponder, MD of ASI, said that by including independent third-party accreditation as an oversight process the ASC is “demonstrating the maximum credibility and effectiveness” of the ASC verification system.
“Accreditation endorses certification bodies’ competence, credibility, independence and integrity in carrying out their conformity assessment activities. One of the important outcomes of the implementation of standards by applicants for certification is that they assist in creating a benchmarking culture with the ultimate benefit of continuous improvement.”
ASI is an associate member of ISEALand operates according to the international ISO/IEC 17011 general requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting certification bodies (also called conformity assessment bodies).
The ASC will be inviting certification bodies to contact ASI to discuss how to become accredited. In accordance with an agreement between WWF and GlobalGAP, a training programme for certification bodies focused on the tilapia standards has already started and field testing of the tilapia standards will shortly commence.
The ASC will be building on experiences from these processes to develop the independent ASC verification scheme.
ASC is an independent not for profit organisation. It was founded in 2009 by WWFand IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) to manage and implement the international standards for environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture developed by the Aquaculture Dialogues.
Currently, the ASC is in its development phase. It is expected to be fully operational by mid-2011, when first certifications will be realised and a consumer-facing label will be launched.
It is the ASC’s mission to transform aquaculture towards environmental and social sustainability, using efficient market mechanisms which create value across the chain.
