Assessment Summary

The U.S. aquaculture management system addresses all of the FAO’s “Minimum Substantive Criteria” to some extent, i.e., all Topics of Pertinence indicated evidence of conformance (Table 1).  The areas with weaker conformance evidence (semi-solid and/or fewer symbols) serve as a focus for discussion. The areas of strongest conformance (i.e., Topics of Pertinence given full circle ratings unanimously by the authors and advisory committee for internal, outcome, and independent evidence) include attributes of the U.S. management system’s participatory and science-based aquaculture management system, specifically: compliance with relevant local, national, or international legislation, regulations, and standards; responsible use of veterinary medicines, chemicals, sanitary measures; aquaculture facilities located in areas that reduce risk of contamination and potential human health hazards; aquatic animal feed safety hazards reduced or eliminated; water quality suitable to produce food safe for human consumption; identification of environmental impacts; adverse environmental impacts managed or mitigated; scientific method used in undertaking risk analysis; actions taken if environmental impact limits are approached or exceeded; adoption of efficient water management measures to reduce impacts on surrounding land and water resources; infrastructure construction and waste disposal conducted responsibly; and recognizing corporate social responsibility from aquaculture to local communities by ensuring fair labor treatment and pay. The areas to be further developed pertain to more explicitly formalizing guidance for minimizing stress on all types of farmed aquatic animals; providing measures to better enable independent verification that workers are trained on good aquatic health and hygiene; proposing incentives to encourage restoration of habitats and sites previously damaged by aquaculture; and establishing policies to internalize the environmental costs of aquaculture operations.

The FAO Evaluation Framework, on which the structure of the current assessment is based, was developed to evaluate whether ecolabelling schemes conform to the FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries; however, those FAO fisheries guidelines (as well as those Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Inland Capture Fisheries, which includes stock enhancement [23]) only address biological components of sustainability in “Minimum Substantive Requirements and Criteria.” The FAO Aquaculture Guidelines pose additional guidance in this regard by outlining “Minimum Substantive Criteria” that also address animal welfare, seafood safety, and the societal and economic aspects of sustainability, as well as the biological. Alternatively, the FAO fisheries guidelines require that “there are documented management approaches with a well based expectation that management will be successful taking into account uncertainty and imprecision” and that “The fishery is conducted under a management system which is based upon good practice and that ensures the satisfaction of the requirements and criteria …,” nuances that are lacking in the FAO Aquaculture Guidelines. Therefore, in some aspects, the systems approach of this conformance assessment of U.S. aquaculture management surpasses requisites set in the “Minimum Substantive Criteria” of the FAO Aquaculture Guidelines by (1) prerequisiting the existence of an established system to manage aquaculture and (2) identifying and verifying good practices of the management system. 

To lay the foundation for further improvement, this assessment presents recommendations as future considerations for U.S. aquaculture management. The most prominent suggestions are those that span a number of Topics of Pertinence and that have been repeatedly communicated by a number of scientists, managers, and stakeholders at Regional Fishery Management Council meetings, Congressional hearings, Federal Town Hall sessions at the World Aquaculture Society’s annual Aquaculture America conferences, American Fisheries Society meetings, Capitol Hill Ocean Week, as well as other venues.

These future considerations include:

● clarifying and streamlining management of aquaculture in federal waters of the United States

● better communicating the sustainability of U.S. aquaculture management and performance

[23] FAO. 2011. Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Inland Capture Fisheries. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Version adopted by the 29th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), Rome, Italy. 31 January–4 February 2011. 107 p. ISBN: 978-92-5-006932-6. http://www.fao.org/3/ba0001t/ba0001t00.pdf