(IntraFish) The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has launched a consumer-facing label as the first ASC-certified products are expected to hit the market this year. The label is designed to be "complimentary" to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label used for wild fish (compare the logos below), the ASC said.
Audits are currently being planned for the first farms likely to receive the ASC standards -- tilapia farms in Indonesia and Hodnuras.
This means tilapia packs using the ASC logo could be found on shelves in Europe and Canada already this summer, the ASC said.
"The first species to be awarded the ASC label will very likely be tilapia and audits are already planned for farms in Indonesia and Honduras," the organization said in a statement.
"Later in the summer, the ASC label will be present on the packaging of tilapia in various supermarkets in Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark and England."
The packaging design agency Jones Knowles Ritchie designed the logo, on a pro bono basis. The frozen foods producer Iglo Foods Group also supported the process through commercial and consumer testing.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, the ASC was formed in 2010 by the World Wildlife Fund and The Sustainable Trade Initiative.
The organization arranged for farmed fish sustainability standards to be developed through the Aquaculture Dialogues, a multi-stakeholder process involving more than 2,000 contributors.
Standards have now been concluded for the 15 most-traded species globally and 2012 will be the first year that ASC-certified products hit the market place.
The ASC currently partners with the MSC regarding its requirements for traceability and in the administration of its logo licensing arrangements.