Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), the world’s leading independent certification scheme for aquaculture, confirmed a score of ‘zero’ for Benchmark’s cutting-edge CleanTreat® system
Benchmark Holdings, the aquaculture biotechnology company, announced today that it has received the highest level of recognition for environmental protection and sustainability, by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
The ASC is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed aquaculture. Following an extensive review, the ASC have included CleanTreat® as a mitigation tool in their current ‘Weighted Number of Medicinal Treatments’. ASC concluded that any treatments performed in a closed contained system, that then applies water purification steps to remove the veterinary medicine, will receive a score of ‘zero’ – the best score possible.
This news represents a major milestone for Benchmark. An ASC scoring of ‘zero’ for Benchmark’s CleanTreat® system will support farmers in meeting key ASC criteria, providing a valuable tool which does not increase the ‘Weighted Number of Medicinal Treatments’. Importantly, this allows farmers to use Integrated Pest Management strategies, which are crucial to effective and robust sea lice management. The effective use of Benchmark’s CleanTreat® will further enable the sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry whilst protecting the surrounding environment.
CleanTreat® is a cutting-edge water purification system that removes medicines from treatment water before safely returning cleaned water to the sea. CleanTreat® also removes the organic material from treatment water including sea lice, egg strings, fish scales and faecal matter — an essential step in combating parasitic resistance to medicines.
Following the news, John Marshall, Head of Benchmark Animal Health, said:
“We are delighted to have received the highest recognition by the ASC for our work in enabling aquaculture producers to improve sustainability and environmental protection. ASC, as the world’s leading certification scheme for aquaculture, continues to play a vital role in maintaining the strictest environmental and welfare standards in the industry.
With our innovative CleanTreat® water purification system and today’s recognition from the ASC, we are proud to play our part in helping farmers and the wider industry take a responsible approach to medicine use and meet the highest standards of sustainability.”
