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FOS – Friend of the Sea

Friend of the Sea Certification gives the public reassurance that fish products originating from a fisheries are managed in a responsible and sustainable way – something that is becoming critical.

FOS – Friends of the Sea
    Friend of the Sea Certification

    About the certification

    More than 2.000 aquatic species are currently endangered of extinction (IUCN Redlist) and one of the causes is overfishing. More than 50% of worldwide commercial fish stocks are currently either overexploited, depleted or data deficient. Furthermore some fishing methods impact the seabed ecosystem and generate unsustainable levels of discards.

    Aquaculture itself, while representing a valid lower impact alternative to some fishing methods and fisheries, if not appropriately developed and managed, it has proved to be detrimental, determining in some cases the destruction of entire mangroves forests or causing water pollution or genetic weakening of wild populations. Control Union is friends with the sea providing the friend of the sea program.

    Aquaculture products

    Only products from healthy not overexploited fish stocks and fished by selective methods (max 8% discards) with negligible impact on the seabed, can be certified. As far as aquaculture products, these must be farmed in sites preliminarily assessed for the Environmental Impact, use no growth hormones nor antifouling paints. Water, energy and waste management must be in place and escapes must be prevented. Fishfeed must be sourced from Friend of the Sea approved sources and certified sustainable.

    Aquaculture farming

    What we offer

    Control Union Certifications is an independent certification body that carries out inspections, audits, verifications and awards certificates for the Friend of The Sea (FOS), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

    How you benefit

    The benefits of getting certified by Control Union

    Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. Oceans serve as the world largest source of protein and represents the main food source for over 2,5 billion people. Marine fisheries directly or indirectly employ over 200 million people. Oceans make up 97% of the Earth water and absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide produced by humans on the earth. The only way to keep on benefiting from oceans’ resources is to respect them..

    Control Union Certifications have a global network of offices. This allows us to make our work more efficient and cost effective for our customers, whilst upholding the same stringent professional auditing and certification procedures with one shop certification of Fisheries; FOS Wild, FOS Aqua-Shellfish/Inland/Marine; FOS CoC, FF, FO, FM and O3; ASC, MSC, GLOBALG.A.P. Aquaculture, EU Organic Aquaculture, Food Safety and many more.

    Seth Wang Zhi Yu

    How can I help you?

    Are you looking for a certain service, do you have any questions or do you want to apply for the certification program? Let me know. My name is Seth Wang and I’m glad to be of help.

    Contact us now!