2023 Edition - Aquaculture Certification Schemes Benchmark: Aquatic Animal Welfare
Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) has launched the second edition of a welfare-based aquaculture certification benchmark tool that analyzes welfare requirements within the primary farming standards of 7 global seafood certification schemes. The assessment areas include water quality, stocking density and space requirements, environmental enrichment, feed composition, stunning and slaughter, neglected species prohibitions, and additional considerations.
Certification Ranking
2023 Results
* Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) (total score 9.5) - scores were based on draft language/documentation that was directly shared with ALI at the time of evaluation. Requirements will be listed in ASC’s upcoming Farm Standard and/or the supplementary Interpretation Manual. As a result, all ASC scores are subject to change based on what is or is not included in final standard documents shared with the public. The Farm Standard will be released for final public consultation in April 2024, will become effective in the fall of 2024, and be applied in farms in the fall of 2025. The Interpretation Manual will likely go out for public consultation in March 2024 as well.
* Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Salmon (total score 2) - This standard will be discontinued soon, and will be replaced with the ASC Farm Standard also included in this benchmark evaluation, which will become effective in the fall of 2024 and applied in farms in the fall of 2025.
2022/2023 Benchmark Comparison
This comparison table provides an overview of the changes made this year in contrast to last year's benchmark, summarizing the revisions in the assessed criteria for each certifying body.