MarinTrust has accepted the first site from the Indian Oil Sardine FIP (Goa and Maharashtra) into its Improver Programme: Omega Fishmeal and Oil Pvt Ltd. This comes after an audit of the production site by a third-party Certification Body (CB). According to MarinTrust, this FIP is currently led by Omega in collaboration with national and local stakeholders.
Firstly, information about the Indian Oil Sardine FIP site will be available on the MarinTrust website. Secondly, the site must continue to comply with the MarinTrust audit requirements annually. Also, the FIP has to demonstrate continual improvements in line with its Fishery Action Plan (FAP).
In more detail, the Improver Programme focus on stock status, resource management strategy and control and monitoring at sea and at unloading points. Besides, the impact on protected species and the environment and governance that meets the needs of the fishery and allows all industry stakeholders to participate.
Finally, all the above are in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
Regarding this program, Nicola Clark, Impacts manager at MarinTrust, explained: "This key advancement will develop better management of the fisheries and enable producers of marine ingredients to demonstrate their commitment towards responsibly sourced raw materials."
On the other hand, in June MarinTrust accepted the first production site from the Mauritanian small pelagic fishery.
MarinTruts is an international program for the certification of marine ingredients that seeks to uphold best practices and that marine ingredients can be recognized as the best and most important source of animal and human nutrition.
Its goal is to continue improving the responsible sourcing and production of global marine ingredients through an accessible certification program. By 2025, the aim is to get 75% of all marine ingredients certified by MarinTrust.
MarinTrust works with third-party accredited certification bodies (ISO 17065) that audit factories producing fishmeal and fish oil and assess the responsibility of fisheries.