WWF review confirms aquaculture eco-certifications in need of urgent reform

Farmed salmon sustainability labels currently not fit for purpose

This month, WWF-Australia released a report stating that aquaculture eco-certifications, including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), need urgent reforms if they are to fulfill their purpose of driving sustainability improvements at salmon farming operations. As a co-founder and supporter of the ASC, WWF’s acknowledgement that eco-certifications are in need of reform is significant. The report echoes much of SeaChoice’s own findings and recommendations to ASC in the years that we have been monitoring the requirements and application of that standard.

WWF-Australia’s report focused on events that occurred at Macquarie Harbour in south-west Tasmania. One third of the harbour is located within the boundaries of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The shallow and poorly flushed estuary is home to the endangered Maugean Skate – considered one of the rarest skate species in the world. The harbour is also home to salmon farms. In recent years, Macquarie Harbour has become an unfortunate poster child for how a rapid and reckless expansion of salmon farming can result in unmitigated ecosystem degradation.

Several of the salmon farms that contributed to the degradation, including benthic damage and lowered oxygen levels, were eco-certified with ASC’s “responsibly farmed” and BAP’s “best practice” labels.

In 2019, WWF-Australia commissioned a review on how and why the circumstances that led to significant impacts at Macquarie Harbour occurred, including the efficacy and limitations of certification to prevent adverse impacts.

As a participant in WWF’s review, we share some of our key takeaways from the report:

Certification criteria must go beyond farm compliance with local laws and regulations, as this is not enough to ensure environmental responsibility. This is particularly the case when local regulations are weak and/or enforcement is inadequate.
Farm-level certifications currently do not effectively address the cumulative impacts of the industry within a given area or waterbody.
ASC sanctioned loopholes likely contributed to delayed action to address and reverse impacts at certified farms. This includes ASC’s exclusion of intermediary farms from compliance with their standard (meaning a year or more from the production cycle is never assessed for environmental impacts) and ASC’s approval of problematic variances that weakened standard rules.
The BAP certification does not publish audit reports, nor were they made available for the reviewer on request. Local stakeholders are not consulted during the BAP audit process. This lack of transparency and disclosure leaves serious questions as to how auditors managed the adverse impacts at BAP certified sites.

SeaChoice’s 2018 Global Review of the ASC Salmon Standard included a case study of the series of events at Macquarie Harbour. We found numerous failings by the ASC and the third-party auditors that enabled farms to become and remain certified – despite the negative impacts that were occurring.

While the scope of the review was limited to Macquarie Harbour, WWF’s report findings are consistent with other areas where these certifications are present – including Canada.

Since 2015, the ASC has continually watered down their standard by exempting the Canadian salmon farming industry from stringent criteria and, instead, deferring to government regulations. B.C. certified farms defer to the government’s rules for sea lice limits (allowing ASC farms to have 20+ lice per fish) and Area-Based Management (despite the government not using this management principle). In addition, the ASC continues to allow auditors to exclude interim farms (commonly used by the B.C. industry) from compliance with their standard. We even had to call out Mowi for their misleading claim that all of their farms are ASC certified (they’re not).

Transparency and meaningful stakeholder engagement are vital for any credible certification scheme. Most/all salmon farms in B.C. and in Atlantic Canada are certified by BAP, but the audit process to attain BAP is shrouded in secrecy. SeaChoice has called on BAP to publish audit reports that demonstrate a farm’s compliance with their standards and consult with local stakeholders during audits.

If certifications are to fulfill their purpose of driving improvements at the industry level, then these failings need to be urgently remedied – or they risk losing market support. Because it goes without saying that eco-certifications should deliver on their promises to shoppers.