The study assessed 20 aquaculture certification standards (Photo: Friend of the Sea)

Study Confirms Friend of the Sea as Best Standard for Sustainable Aquaculture

According to the study, Friend of the Sea Absolute Performance Score was better than all major sustainable aquaculture schemes operating at international level: Global GAP, Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), AquaGAP and also better than some bio standards such as Bio Suisse, Australia Certified Organic, and retailer standards such as Whole Foods Market and Marks & Spencer.

The study also concluded that Friend of the Sea’s standards are driving more change than Naturland, Bio Suisse, GAA, Label Rouge and Marks & Spencer. When all standards where compared according to their requirements for salmon aquaculture, Friend of the Sea scored second only to the bio Soil Association standard.

Tasmanian Spring Bay blue mussels are "Friend of the Sea" certified

Dr Paolo Bray, director of Friend of the Sea explains: “Some Bio standards are more restrictive on animal welfare and nutritional aspects but as a consequence they might increase environmental impact and prevent achievement of sustainability.

“While it is clear that 'Bio' is not a valid alternative to 'sustainability', we are proud that our standard has often scored better than most of the major Bio standards. In particular salmon standards, according to this study, perform even better than Naturland”, Mr. Bray added.

Dr Paolo Bray Friend of the Sea's Director

“This is once more evidence of the reliability of Friend of the Sea standards. The international aquaculture industry has already appreciated the important added value provided by FOS certification as we have certified almost five times the amount of aquaculture production certified by all the bio standards worldwide”, Mr Bray concluded.

The study was released by the University of Victoria Seafood Ecology Research Group and it assessed 20 aquaculture certification standards. Only 18 of them have actually already been used during audits (the U.S. National Organic Standard and WWF's SAD – Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue are only drafts proposal at the time of the study) and some of them are only specific for one species or implemented only at a single nation level.

The final report – “How Green is Your Ecolabel. Comparing the environmental benefits of marine aquaculture standards” uses a well-established methodology, refined by the 2010 Global Aquaculture Performance Index (GAPI), to determine numerical scores of environmental performance. This study acts as a kind of Michelin guide for standards. The long-term objective is to help stakeholders — seafood buyers, fish farmers, standard setters, and policy makers — understand how standards as a whole are contributing to the ultimate goal of a more sustainable marine aquaculture industry.

About Friend of the Sea

Approximately 50 aquaculture producers worldwide have achieved Friend of the Sea certification

Friend of the Sea started as a project of the Earth Island Institute, the NGO which operates the successful International Dolphin-Safe project. Some of the main world retailers participate, such as Carrefour Italy, Coop Italia, Esselunga, Auchan, Manor and Kaufland. Some important producers also have their products certified.

Friend of the Sea is the only scheme in the world which can certify, with the same seal of approval, products both farmed and wild-caught. Friend of the Sea is currently the main sustainable seafood certification scheme in the world, having assessed more than 10 million MT of wild-catch and 500 thousand MT of farmed products.

About the Global Aquaculture Performance Index (GAPI)

The Global Aquaculture Performance Index is a tool to empower seafood industry leaders and policy makers to make informed decisions about the environmental costs and benefits of farmed marine finfish.

GAPI uses a well-established statistical methodology to provide a rigorous and objective evaluation of the environmental performance of marine aquaculture globally.

The methodology is based on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) approach developed by a team of environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University , which has been revised biennially since 2006.

Sjøtroll Havbruk AS became Friend of the Sea certified in 2009, and is subject to annual reassessment by an external certification body in order to retain the accreditation (Photo: Sjøtroll Havbruk AS)

The species-country focus of the 2010 GAPI yields results that are most relevant for comparisons of performance across species and countries. Future applications of the GAPI framework will include the development of a farm-level performance index and an evaluation tool to benchmark the environmental performance of current and future aquaculture standards.

GAPI is a project of the Seafood Ecology Research Group (SERG) at theUniversity of Victoria and it is supported by the Lenfest Ocean Program.

Source: Friend of the Sea

Margaret E.L. Stacey
Editor Companies and Products
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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