Controversy surrounding a major Chinese-operated tuna fishing company’s admissions that it breached quotas for the most vulnerable species in the Pacific has increased interest in Friend of the Sea (FOS) certification in the Chinese market, according to its lead executive.
“The number of requests is further growing each month,” said Paolo Bray, founder and chief executive of FOS, which he says is “by far the main international certification for sustainable tuna production.”
The sustainability of tuna was in the spotlight last month when in a draft prospectus for its planned USD 100 million (EUR 78.8 million) initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Dalian-based China Tuna Industry Group revealed China has been taking advantage of lax enforcement to exceed catch quotas for bigeye and yellowfin tuna in the Pacific.
Friend of the Sea sees itself overtaking the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in the Asia seafood certification market because its fees are more affordable and its stricter criteria lend more credibility, according to Bray. Large tuna freezer seiners cost a maximum EUR 3,000 (USD 3,804) per vessel while smaller vessels are accredited for an average EUR 1,000 (USD 1,268) per vessel with a 30 percent discount when more than three vessels are certified. A competing sustainability scheme MSC charges for each fishery certified range from USD 15,000 (EUR 11,827) to USD 120,000 (EUR 94,629), according to calculations based on past certifications.
The strictness and affordability of the FOS regime is also attracting artisanal fisheries in Vietnam, Brazil and Italy, says Bray. Recently, certified firms include the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Co. Ltd., which has secured FOS certification for its yellowfin tuna hand-line fleet operating in the western Indian Ocean.
Smaller companies opt for FOS, claims Bray, because other schemes are biased to bigger operations as they are “founded by major seafood multinationals and which have among their board of trustees [the internal body writing the strategy of the scheme] the same seafood multinationals.”
National accreditation bodies need to ensure that certification bodies they supervise guarantee access to all fisheries regardless of size – “this is required by FAO guidelines,” says Bray.
Likewise, Bray wants retailers to contribute to certification costs and ensure that the certification program applies strict requirements verified by national accreditation bodies: “Most retailers seem to still give preference to those programs that have certified the widest product range but these programs often apply the weakest certification requirements.”
Founded in 2007, FOS certifies both wild and farmed products. While Bray says FOS certified product is sold in the City Super chain focused on well-heeled Chinese consumers, both FOS and MSC are conspicuous by their absence in major mainland Chinese retailers. There are currently only three entities in mainland China with FOS certification, compared to 12 in Vietnam, five in Taiwan and 17 in key tuna exporter Sri Lanka.
As China’s imports of high-end and packaged seafood increases this might change. In the meantime FOS does certify Hong Kong-based China Fishery Group vessels catching anchovies in the South Pacific. It also certifies mainland Chinese fish oil producers Sinomega Biotech Engineering Co and Hutai Biopharm Inc.
