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ASC and farm assurance
ASC certifies responsible aquaculture and GLOBALG.A.P. certifies farm practice across aquaculture and crops. Neither is required by any importing government. Both are asked for by retailers, and for a supplier they represent a real cost that has to be earned back on price.
The essentials.
- ASC covers farmed seafood
- Farm standards for species including shrimp, with a chain of custody standard that follows the product to the buyer.1
- GLOBALG.A.P. is broader
- Farm assurance across crops, livestock and aquaculture, widely used by European retail as a baseline supplier condition.2
- Both are private schemes
- Membership organisations rather than regulators. They audit against their own standards and issue no export permission whatsoever.2
- The audit is annual and it is paid for
- The producer carries the cost, which is why certification concentrates among larger farms and processors.
Who asks for it.
No export shipment needs this. It is an Indonesian domestic registration for selling inside the country, and it has no bearing on a container leaving it. Suppliers quote it as a credential often enough that it is worth knowing what it does not buy you.
What it does not cover.
They do not replace the health certificate
Market access for Indonesian seafood runs through the competent authority, the approved establishment list and the health certificate. A private certificate is commercially useful and it opens no border.
They do not address residues on your lot
An audit looks at systems and practice at a point in time. What decides whether your container clears is the analysis on the shipped product, and that is a separate document.
Certified does not mean certified for your species
Certificates have a scope. Read which species, which sites and which dates, because a valid certificate for one farm says nothing about the pond your shrimp came from.
Questions buyers ask.
Which one should I ask for?
Whichever your own customers recognise. In European retail GLOBALG.A.P. is often a baseline and ASC is a consumer-facing claim on seafood. Asking for both on a first order from a small Indonesian farm will usually end the conversation.
Does certification make residues less likely?
It makes good practice more likely, which is not the same as a guarantee about a specific harvest. Certification and testing answer different questions, and a buyer needs both: the audit for how the farm is run, the analysis for what is in the box.
Can a small Indonesian farm get certified?
It is difficult and it happens, usually through a group scheme where a processor or an association carries the system for many small farms. Where that structure does not exist, insisting on certification means buying from the larger operators only.
Where this comes up.
Indonesian vannamei shrimp
How farmed vannamei is counted, processed and shipped, and why the paperwork differs from wild-caught seafood: no catch certificate, but residues.
Indonesian tilapia
Farmed whitefish sold mostly as fillets. Where it is grown, what to specify, and the residue question that decides whether a lot clears.
Indonesian barramundi
Asian sea bass, farmed in sea cages and ponds. A premium whitefish with a residue question and no catch certificate.
Indonesian milkfish
Bandeng is farmed in brackish ponds and sold mostly deboned, because the bones are the whole problem. What that costs and what the paperwork looks like.
Indonesian dried seaweed
Indonesia farms the seaweed the carrageenan industry runs on. Which species does what, and why moisture and impurities decide the price.
How to verify an Indonesian supplier
Two public government registries, the cross-check between them that catches most problems before a deposit moves, and the part only a visit can answer.
Sources
- 1ASC farm and chain of custody standards. Aquaculture Stewardship Council. Checked 5 August 2026.
- 2GLOBALG.A.P. standards for farm assurance. GLOBALG.A.P.. Checked 5 August 2026.
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