The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is seeking feedback from stakeholders as it refreshes its guidelines on how aquaculture can be conducted responsibly in and around protected areas, such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and marine reserves.
“As aquaculture becomes central to feeding a growing global population and protected areas continue to expand, there is a clear opportunity to better align food production with conservation goals,” ASC Environmental Standards Coordinator Dan Auwkit said in a release. “By bringing greater clarity to how aquaculture can operate responsibly within or near protected areas, we can support biodiversity protection while enabling responsible aquaculture for the future.”
ASC is running a 30-day consultation from 9 March to 9 April and is looking for input from key stakeholders working in such areas of expertise as biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystem processes, the release said. It’s the first step of a two-year plan to update the ASC’s guidelines for farmers operating with protected areas.
The goal of the consultation is for the ASC to identify best practices for aquaculture, using guidance from international frameworks like the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected area categories and the Global Biodiversity Framework. ASC added that the organization will also look to NGOs, academia, civil society representatives, retailers and brands, suppliers, industry actors, and certification bodies in shaping the guidelines.
Once the 30-day period ends, ASC plans to present a framework with “clear, evidence-based guidance” to assess how aquaculture can coexist with conservation and not disrupt the safeguarding of protected areas. ASC will also review internal requirements and guidelines published by the organization to ensure its guidance aligns with stakeholders.
ASC said there will be a risk-based compatibility assessment of current aquaculture practices in protected areas, using broad, practical criteria for farms to use. The development of these guidelines is slated to finish in 2028 and will be filed under the ASC Farm Standard, as well as a jointly developed ASC-IUCN whitepaper.
Once developed, the framework will be tested in a few geographical locations to ensure it is practical, scalable, and applicable.
