We are contacting you regarding our ongoing investigation into aquaculture and the global fishmeal and fish oil industry, which has uncovered an array of industry-wide environmental and human rights concerns. These concerns date from between 2018 and the present, and they pertain to events or conditions on land or at sea.

Since the Friend of the Sea is one of the most popular programs for certifying fishmeal plants and the fisheries that supply them, we wanted to get your input on various issues.

1. A 2023 Changing Markets Foundation report explained that third-party certification programs…

Thank you very much for your interest in Friend of the Sea and for providing us an opportunity to clarify and answer your questions.

1. A 2023 Changing Markets Foundation report explained that third-party certification programs like Friend of the Sea are “selected, appointed and paid for by the fishery or the business,” which seems to present a conflict of interest. Can you offer a response to concerns about this problem?

   Can you please provide this report? Friend of the Sea is one of the 9 certifications that are recognized by the International Accreditation Forum Multi Lateral Agre…

Thank you very much for your engagement with our queries and for responding so quickly to our email. We appreciate the opportunity for further dialogue on these issues, and we have a few follow-up questions for Friend of the Sea:

1. The fishmeal industry often touts recent improvements such as sourcing more trimmings (fish by-products) instead of whole fish. However, in several regions, such as in West Africa, the fishmeal production is still predominantly from whole fish catches, not by-products​. The depletion of fish in those waters for fishmeal factories contributes to food and job insecu…

Thank you very much for your email and for the information provided. I am forwarding also to Andrea Pica who is in charge of the Technical and Scientific Department of Friend of the Sea. He will review and will verify if they are compliant with requirements for objections (thus if based on scientific evidence and if relevant to the current Friend of the Sea requirement). Please consider our offices close from 24th of December to 2nd of January, so please allow for some delay in getting back to you. We definetly appreciate your input and help in the process.

As far as your other questions:

1…

Thanks for your additional responses and your interest in our investigation. We have the following answers to your questions, as well as some follow-up questions of our own:

1. **While our requirements favour use of trimmings and bycuts and not whole fish, the certification is currently open also to those fishmeal and fishoil which originate from whole fish caught by fisheries compliant with our sustainability requirements. When we started some 15 years ago, the greatest majority of fishmeal and fish oil originated from whole fish. We believe that our certification and awareness activity some…