The South African company Abagold was audited, in 2015, by an independent certification body and was found fully compliant with all the strict Friend of the sea criteria for sustainable aquaculture.
Certified products - sold locally and in export markets, including Hong Kong and Singapore – will now proudly carry the Friend of the Sea international eco-label.
Abagold is located in Hermanus and operates on four farms: Sea View, Amaza, Sulumanzi and Bergsig. The four aquaculture sites combined comprise 10 hectares and house over 2,000 land-based tanks.
All potential environmental impacts are managed and professionally controlled, preventing any impact on the surrounding ecosystem. No change or alteration which could have negatively affected the environment occurred during and after the construction of all the various sites.
“Abalone have been identified as one of the many classes of organism threatened with extinction due to overfishing, acidification of oceans,” explained Dr Bray, director of Friend of the Sea. “Farming abalone can decrease the fishing pressure and help recovery.”
“Abagold applied for Friend of the Sea certification, as we are fully committed to the environment and we consider the organisation to be the most reliable measure of such sustainability standards. Abagold is the first abalone company in the world to achieve this certification.
"This is a very clear message for our customers and consumers regarding our commitment to marine habitat conservation,” said Werner Piek, the Marketing manager at Abagold.
