Fisheries in MSC’s Improvement Program now recognised by ASC’s Feed Standard

Fisheries engaged in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)’s Improvement Program are now recognised by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)’s Feed Standard, further incentivising them to improve their practices.

The MSC launched its Improvement Program in 2024 to support fisheries worldwide, regardless of their size or location, to make the changes necessary for them to be considered sustainable and meet the MSC Fisheries Standard. In recognition of the efforts they are making, once they have demonstrated they meet minimum acceptable levels of performance against MSC’s fisheries standard and have traceability systems in place, their products are eligible to enter supply chains assured by MSCs Chain of Custody program.

Now reduction fisheries producing ingredients for use in aquaculture feed who are engaged in the Improvement Program are also recognised in the ASC’s sustainability ladder for marine ingredients in feeds.

The Feed Standard, launched by ASC in 2021, established a clear direction for companies in the FMFO (fish meal, fish oil) sector towards transparent and responsible feed used in aquaculture production. In order to maintain ASC certification, feed mills have to demonstrate sustainability credentials used in feed and improve every three years until the majority of marine raw material comes from MSC certified fisheries.

Amanda Lejbowicz, MSC’s Head of Fisheries Standard Accessibility, said: “This explicit recognition of fisheries in the MSC Improvement Program brings new incentives for reduction fisheries to improve their ecological performance. The sustainability of fish feed has a vital role to play in tackling overfishing, with a significant proportion of wild-caught seafood used in aquaculture.

“The ASC feed standard already recognised MSC certification as the gold standard for environmentally sustainable whole fish and now also recognises those fisheries working through the Improvement Program to reach this high bar.”

ASC certified feed mills must carry out due diligence on all ingredients accounting for more than 1% of the total annual purchased volume for ASC aquafeeds. MSC is recognised and serves as an ‘end goal’ in terms of environmental sustainability of whole fish ingredients entering ASC conforming feed.

In addition to ingredients passing due diligence, whole fish are subject to additional requirements. Over 50% of the wholefish ingredients needs to be in the Majority Sustainable Level (MSL) ladder, progression to which must be demonstrated at each audit cycle. The ladder involves various levels of improvement projects and certifications for fishery sourcing, ingredient manufacturing and traceability.

MSC certified fisheries play a key role in the ASC Feed Standard as an approved scheme for marine ingredients, signifying the final step on the improvement ladder and demonstrating best practice for fisheries being used for whole fish ingredients.