A new collaborative project launched by the ASC, the Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) and WWF. (Photo: ASC)

Collaboration agreement to guide VietGap certification transition to ASC

VIET NAM
Thursday, September 27, 2018, 23:40 (GMT + 9)

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has launched a new collaborative project for the Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) and WWF Vietnam to provide helpful guidance for Vietnamese farmers to achieve ASC certification.

The ASC-VietGAP benchmark has compared the Vietnamese aquaculture standard, VietGAP, and the ASC standards for shrimp, pangasius and tilapia, to allow farms that have achieved VietGAP certification to transition to ASC certification as efficiently as possible.

Farmers that have achieved VietGAP certification and wish to pursue ASC certification previously lacked easy access to information outlining what they needed to meet the requirements.

Picture of the collaborative project presentation and discussion at Vietfish. (Photo: ASC)

With the commonalities identified, farmers can now focus on the areas of difference between the certifications, thereby streamlining the ASC certification process for Vietnamese farmers.

VietGAP standard, which currently certifies 390 shrimp, pangasius and tilapia producers, is managed by D-Fish, the government department responsible for fisheries and aquaculture in Vietnam

The Directorate has endorsed the benchmark and will be using its links with Vietnam’s fish farmers to promote the guidance.

“The ASC is a global certification programme which brings many advantages to producers, but we also recognise that every region has different opportunities and challenges,” pointed out Roy van Daatselaar, Producer Support Manager at ASC.

“This collaboration allows us to work with local partners to put things into a regional context, to extend the reach and benefits of ASC certification,” ASC manager reported.

In his view, there are many areas of overlap between the ASC and VietGAP standards, so this work should help highlight these areas and build a stepping stone approach to help farmers to identify what action they might need to take to achieve ASC certification.

For his part, Mr. Huynh Quoc Tinh from WWF Vietnam expressed the NGO’s support to sustainable aquaculture, benchmarking VietGAP and ASC, which he considers will increase opportunities of good aquaculture practice products to access the global market.
 
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