Certifications
FRIEND OF THE SEA
Certification for Sustainable Seafood,
Fisheries and Aquaculture Products
Friend of the Sea was founded by Paolo Bray, Director of International Programs – Dolphin-Safe Project / Earth Island Institute. The Dolphin-Safe Project saved millions of dolphins from death in tuna fishing nets and started the sustainable seafood movement.
Friend of the Sea is currently a project of the World Sustainability Organization, an international NGO whose mission is to promote environmental conservation.
Friend of the Sea has become the leading certification standard for products and services which respect and protect the marine environment. The certification awards sustainable practices in Fisheries, Aquaculture, Fishmeal and Omega 3 Fish Oil. Friend of the Sea also promotes pilot projects related to restaurants, sustainable shipping, whale and dolphin-watching, aquaria, ornamental fish, UV creams and others.
Friend of the Sea is the only sustainable fisheries certification process recognized and supervised globally by a National Accreditation Body. Several benchmark studies have confirmed the strength and reliability of the Friend of the Sea certification and chain of custody.
Yearly audits are carried out onsite or in remote by independent international certification bodies in consultation with stakeholders, against the strict Friend of the Sea environmental sustainability and social accountability criteria.
Friend of the Sea also promotes conservation projects for protection of the ocean.
FRIEND OF THE EARTH
Friend of the Earth was founded in 2016 on the initiative of Paolo Bray, founder and director of the World Sustainability Organization, which is based in Italy and operates worldwide and whose key objective is the conservation of ecosystems.
Friend of the Earth is an international certification scheme for sustainable agriculture and breeding that has been developed within the guidelines of the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and whose principles are based on the safeguarding and protection of the entire ecosystem.
Global interest in the Friend of the Earth certification scheme has grown rapidly in recent years – we have seen a 100 percent increase in uptake from 2019 to 2020. Now over 5,000 farms, employing an estimated 50,000 farmers, have had their production, with an estimated total value of more than 1.5 billion euros, certified by Friend of the Earth.
More than 35 different agriculture and farming products have obtained the Friend of the Earth certification, ranging from fruit and vegetables to dairy, eggs, poultry and meat.
DOLPHIN SAFE
STANDARD
An Earth Island Project
For more than 30 years, the International Marine Mammal Project has led the fight to protect dolphins, whales, and the ocean environment. They pioneered the “Dolphin Safe” tuna fishing standard, stopping the intentional chasing and netting of dolphins and preventing many deaths every year.
