On this page
- Understanding Appendix 14 requirements and supply chain scope
- Essential documentation and evidence for pre-grow out sites
- Step-by-step process to verify supply chain conformance
- Handling veterinary treatments and hormone usage in pre-grow out
- Example
- Before your audit
- Questions people ask
- Are broodstock facilities required to comply with Appendix 14 requirements?
- What happens if a pre-grow out site uses a WHO Critically Important Antimicrobial?
- Must intermediate cage sites supplying salmon grow-out farms comply with Appendix 14?
- How long must a pre-grow out site retain effluent water following hormone treatments?
- Reference documents
The short version
- Indicator 1.5.3 mandates documented Appendix 14 conformance for all uncertified pre-grow out sites supplying certifiable stock.
- Broodstock sites and suppliers holding valid ASC certification are exempt from Appendix 14 verification requirements.
- Pre-grow out sites must retain water containing hormones for at least 48 hours prior to discharge into receiving waters.
Understanding Appendix 14 requirements and supply chain scope
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council established supply chain requirements to ensure that environmental and social impacts are managed throughout every production stage. In aquaculture operations, environmental risks, disease events, and social non-compliances often originate in early life-stage facilities long before stock reaches the final grow-out farm. Criterion 1.5 addresses these upstream risks by requiring units of certification to map their supply chain and verify the origin of all stocked animals.
Indicator 1.5.3 specifies that the unit of certification must only stock certifiable product if all uncertified supply chain sites conform to Appendix 14. This obligation applies to operations farming freshwater salmonids, flatfish, seabass, seabream, meagre, and land-based marine salmonids. Broodstock sites are explicitly exempt from Appendix 14 requirements, as are supply sites that already hold valid certification against the ASC Farm Standard. For marine salmonids cultured in cages, any intermediate supply cage site must hold full certification rather than relying on Appendix 14 conformance.
Quality managers must recognise that Appendix 14 serves as a mandatory gatekeeper for product eligibility. If a farm stocks juveniles or smolts from an uncertified site that fails to demonstrate conformance with Appendix 14, the resulting harvest cannot be sold as certified product. Conformity assessment bodies evaluate this chain of custody during routine audits, raising non-conformities against Criterion 1.5 if supplier documentation is missing or incomplete.
Important: Broodstock sites are exempt from Appendix 14, but all uncertified pre-grow out suppliers supplying juveniles or smolts must have documentary proof of conformance before animals arrive at the site.
Essential documentation and evidence for pre-grow out sites
Demonstrating supply chain conformance requires quality leads to establish a structured document repository containing verified evidence from every uncertified pre-grow out supplier. Auditors evaluate supplier documentation against fourteen specific requirements defined in Appendix 14, ranging from legal permitting to social welfare policies. The unit of certification must maintain these records on site and make them readily available during external audits.
Quality leads must systematically collect, review, and archive evidence for each pre-grow out facility before stocking takes place. The following matrix outlines the key requirements, auditor verification methods, and essential records required to ensure compliance.
| Requirement | What the auditor checks | Evidence to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Requirement 14.1 | Valid legal licences and permits for all supplier operations and facilities | Current operating permits, water use licences, and environmental authorizations |
| Requirement 14.2 & 14.3 | Siting outside Protected Areas and zero mangrove or natural wetland clearing | Location coordinates, site maps, and land-use assessment documentation |
| Requirement 14.5 | Installation, maintenance, and testing of species-specific containment structures | Written Escape Prevention Plan, inspection logs, and severe weather protocols |
| Requirement 14.6 | Responsible handling and disposal procedures for all farm waste streams | Waste management procedure, mortality disposal logs, and chemical disposal contracts |
| Requirement 14.7 | Detention of water containing hormones prior to environmental discharge | Written discharge procedure verifying minimum 48-hour hormone water retention |
| Requirement 14.8 | Veterinary-approved Health and Welfare Plan covering disease and biosecurity | Written Health and Welfare Plan signed by a registered veterinarian |
| Requirement 14.10 & 14.11 | Complete antibiotic disclosure and zero use of WHO Critically Important Antimicrobials | Completed ASC Stock Status Record and veterinary treatment logs |
| Requirement 14.12 & 14.13 | Documented social policies prohibiting forced labour and completed safety assessments | Written human rights policies, safety risk assessments, and training records |
| Requirement 14.14 | Accessible community grievance mechanism for local populations | Written grievance procedure, contact log, and evidence of local communication |
Common finding: Quality leads often collect general supplier self-declarations that fail to detail the 48-hour hormone water retention period required by Requirement 14.7 or veterinary approval of the health and welfare plan under Requirement 14.8.
Step-by-step process to verify supply chain conformance
Compliance leads must establish a repeatable internal verification workflow to vet pre-grow out suppliers before placing orders for eggs, fingerlings, or smolts. Relying on informal assurances creates severe audit exposure and can invalidate entire production batches. Implementing a standardized five-step desktop review process protects the unit of certification from non-conformities during certification audits.
- Map all supply chain sites using the official ASC Supply Chain Mapping Template required by Indicator 1.5.1, identifying every hatchery, fingerling, and intermediate site back to broodstock.
- Determine the certification status of each identified supplier to separate fully certified sites from uncertified pre-grow out facilities subject to Appendix 14.
- Request and audit the fourteen required Appendix 14 documentation packages from each uncertified supplier, verifying that veterinary signatures, safety risk assessments, and waste procedures are current.
- Verify that the supplier completes and signs the ASC Stock Status Record required by Indicator 1.5.2 for each specific batch, confirming zero usage of prohibited antimicrobials.
- Archive all verified supplier documentation in a centralized compliance folder linked to incoming batch delivery notes and internal stocking logs.
Handling veterinary treatments and hormone usage in pre-grow out
Veterinary management and chemical usage during early life stages represent critical risk areas during supply chain audits. Requirement 14.9 mandates that pre-grow out sites must only use therapeutants prescribed by a registered veterinarian or qualified aquatic animal health professional. Furthermore, Requirement 14.11 strictly prohibits the use of antimicrobials listed by the World Health Organization as Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine. Quality leads must verify that pre-grow out facilities never administer these prohibited treatments under any circumstances.
When veterinary treatments occur at a pre-grow out site, Requirement 14.10 dictates that all antibiotic treatments must be fully disclosed to the unit of certification. This disclosure must detail the specific reason for treatment and the exact quantity used, recorded directly within the ASC Stock Status Record. In addition, facilities utilizing hormones for sex reversal or maturation must comply with Requirement 14.7, which requires holding water containing hormones for at least 48 hours, or the duration specified by product instructions, before discharging effluent into natural waterbodies.
Example
A quality lead at an ASC-certified freshwater trout facility prepares for a re-certification audit and reviews documentation for a new batch of fingerlings sourced from an uncertified nursery. Upon examining the incoming shipment records, the quality lead notes that the nursery administered a bacterial treatment during fry development. To satisfy Requirement 14.10 and Requirement 14.11, the quality lead requests the full veterinary prescription and the completed ASC Stock Status Record from the supplier. The records confirm that the antibiotic used was florfenicol, prescribed by a licensed veterinarian, and that no WHO Critically Important Antimicrobials were utilized. The quality lead cross-references the treatment details with the batch delivery log, attaches the signed ASC Stock Status Record, and files the documentation in the audit repository, successfully demonstrating complete supply chain traceability to the auditor.
Tip: Cross-check every batch of incoming stock against the ASC Stock Status Record to confirm that no WHO Critically Important Antimicrobials were administered during the nursery phase.
Before your audit
- Verify that the ASC Supply Chain Mapping Template is fully populated and up to date for all active stock.
- Confirm that a signed ASC Stock Status Record accompanies every batch of animals received from pre-grow out sites.
- Check that all uncertified pre-grow out suppliers hold valid legal operating licences and environmental permits.
- Review supplier Health and Welfare Plans to ensure formal approval and signature by a registered veterinarian.
- Verify that pre-grow out sites using hormones maintain written procedures demonstrating a 48-hour water holding period prior to discharge.
- Confirm that no WHO Critically Important Antimicrobials were administered at any pre-grow out site supplying the farm.
- Ensure uncertified pre-grow out suppliers provide documented evidence of site-specific health and safety risk assessments.
Questions people ask
Are broodstock facilities required to comply with Appendix 14 requirements?
No, broodstock sites are explicitly exempt from Appendix 14 requirements under Indicator 1.5.3. The supply chain verification scope for Appendix 14 begins at the egg, hatchery, or nursery stage following broodstock.
What happens if a pre-grow out site uses a WHO Critically Important Antimicrobial?
If a pre-grow out site administers an antimicrobial listed as a Critically Important Antimicrobial by WHO, the supplied stock violates Requirement 14.11. The unit of certification cannot stock these animals as certifiable product, and any resulting harvest must be excluded from certified sales.
Must intermediate cage sites supplying salmon grow-out farms comply with Appendix 14?
No, intermediate cage sites supplying marine salmonids cannot use Appendix 14 to demonstrate eligibility. Under Indicator 1.5.3, all intermediate cage culture sites in the marine salmonid supply chain must hold full ASC certification.
How long must a pre-grow out site retain effluent water following hormone treatments?
Under Requirement 14.7, pre-grow out sites must hold water containing hormones for a minimum of 48 hours prior to discharge, or for the duration specified in the product instructions if that timeframe is greater.
Reference documents
- ASC Farm Standard V1.0.1A2 - August 2026
- ASC Farm Standard Interpretation Manual V1.0.1 - September 2025
- ASC Farm and Feed CAR V1.0 - May 2025
- ASC Requirements for Units of Certification V1.0.1 - July 2023
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