Achieving goals despite the odds

COVID-19 has shifted conversations away from many things but not the B.C. salmon farmers’ commitment to best practices. Two of them achieved Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification during the pandemic.

Mowi Canada West now has all of its farms in British Columbia certified to the ASC standards. The company comes full circle with the certification of its final farms (its 27th and 28th) in the province. Mowi was the first in North America to have a salmon farm certified to ASC and the first in the Mowi Group to complete certification of all its sites. It says it may now label its salmon as ASC certified when sold in stores.

Grieg Seafood BC also achieved a similar feat in the middle of the pandemic with the certification of five of its Sunshine Coast salmon farms. “ASC certification is very challenging in the best of times, and it required a lot of hard work from people in our company that were focused on that alone. We’re very dedicated to the idea of ASC, and we’ve come a long way in the last year, and now we’re on track to have all of our farms ASC certified in 2021,” says says Rocky Boschman, managing director, Grieg Seafood BC.