EPAX Achieves Friends of the Sea Certification

Friend of the Sea is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of marine habitat. It is currently the world's largest sustainable seafood certification organization, having assessed more than 10 million MT of wild-catch and 500,000 MT of farmed products.

6 Nov 2009 --- Leading omega-3 supplier EPAX AS has been awarded Friend of the Sea (FOS) certification for its sustainable marine sourcing and production methods and will soon offer its Omega-3 oils as having a documented and traceable origin from sustainable fisheries, the company announced.

Friend of the Sea is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of marine habitat. It is currently the world's largest sustainable seafood certification organization, having assessed more than 10 million MT of wild-catch and 500,000 MT of farmed products.

Friend of the Sea's criteria compliance is verified by independent accredited certification bodies. Essential criteria for fisheries are:
• the product should not originate from overexploited (nor depleted,
data deficient or recovering) stocks;
• the fishing method should not impact the seabed; and
• the fishing method should be selective (below the world average for discards).

"Environmental sustainability and concern for the world's sea life is a top priority at EPAX; the Friend of the Sea certification speaks to our commitment to being a documented, sustainable operation," said Bjorn Refsum, CEO of EPAX AS. "We are fortunate that our vertical integration through our corporation allows us, as well as our customers, the unique position of providing complete traceability-from our own fish harvesting in Peru to our finished Omega-3 products in Norway."

Additionally, EPAX was audited to ensure it meets FOS's requirements on carbon footprint reduction and offset as well as social accountability. Mr. Refsum noted that traceability is audited onsite by FOS, while an annual traceability surveillance is run on all purchase reports.