What is the difference between Friend of the Sea and MSC?
Friend of the Sea differs from MSC in several aspects. – FOS originates from people involved in conservation. MSC was founded by Unilever, a multinational exploiting seafood resources – FOS has focused in auditing traditional, artisanal and small scale fisheries and aquaculture, while MSC has started by auditing and certifying Unilever whitefish suppliers, mostly bottom trawling unselectively on overexploited target stocks – FOS criteria are much more selective than MSC criteria and in fact FOS DID NOT certify products from unsustainable origins certified by MSC (eg: hake from bottom trawl fishery in South Africa and Nephrops by bottom trawl fishery in UK). – FOS criteria follow FAO Guidelines minimum requirements such as art 30 requesting fishery not to target overexploited stocks. MSC does not follow FAO Guidelines minimum requirements – FOS certifies both products from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. MSC certifies only fisheries products not considering the fact that aquacult
