The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has prepared the draft audit manual for the seriola and cobia standard for pilot testing from early next year.
These pilot tests will enable ASC to field-test the audit manual and allow the participating farms to measure their operations against the standard.
Feedback from the pilot audits will be used to further improve the audit manual before it is finalized and approved.
The pilots will take place in January and February next year and the audit manual is likely to be ready for general use by April 2016.
"I'm delighted to see this audit manual for our latest standard materializing and I am pleased to announce that we are now ready for pilot testing. I would like to thank representatives of the Seriola Cobia Aquaculture Dialogue and the ASC team for their hard work on this project and we look forward to testing this out in a live environment," said Bas Geerts, ASC standards director.
The ASC Seriola and Cobia Standard was handed over to the ASC in February 2015. It aims to address the key negative environmental and social impacts of seriola and cobia farming, including preservation of local habitats and biodiversity, conservation of water and quality, responsible sourcing of feed ingredients, minimal use of therapeutics and antibiotics, caring for their employees and fostering good community relations.
Cobia is produced in many parts of Asia and off the coast of the United States, Mexico and Panama.
Seriola is mainly produced in the Republic of Korea and Japan.