Legislation measures

The creation and agreement under the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) frame or any national initiative like the Asociación Española de Normalización (UNE) should be the basis for the good practices’ certification.

Certification Certification

Relevant type of aquaculture:

Fish Shellfish Seaweed

Relevant sea basin:

Mediterranean

Relevant stage:

Prevention and reduction

Related Barriers:

  • The procedures to be applied by farmers in their facilities to reduce and prevent non-organic litter from aquaculture activities are implemented on a voluntary base in Spain

Related Good Practice:

P&R GP5.1

Good practices certification set up at a worldwide level and, specifically, in Spain

Accredited certification bodies perform the verification of the control points at primary production. There are different certification bodies accredited to do aquaculture audits and certification, worldwide. In the general regulations it is stipulated which are the conditions for a certification body to be allowed to do audits/certification. The accreditation system is based on ISO17065.

The main role of the certification bodies is to ensure that the aquaculture companies are accomplishing specific criteria that include multiple aspects related to fish farming: environmental criteria, ecological production, animal welfare, among others. Criteria for waste prevention and management are included in the aquaculture standards. In some cases, the criteria include using gear which is certified according to national legislation.

The worldwide aquaculture certification company ASC is now working together with some the biggest aquaculture companies in Europe to find solutions and preventions for aquaculture littering. A white paper that addresses this problem has been published in November 2019.