Aquaria Certification
Protecting animal welfare through appropriate feeding, water quality and veterinary care. Supporting species conservation and visitor education. Managing water and waste, and respecting workers’ rights.
About the certification
Friend of the Sea aquaria certification assesses defined aquarium operations against requirements for animal care, species sourcing, education and conservation activities. It also covers water recirculation, waste treatment, environmental management and specified working conditions.
Aquarium operators can apply for the facilities and activities they want assessed. Visitors can understand what the label covers, while operators can review the sourcing, husbandry, training and record-keeping requirements before starting an application.
What can be certified
Public aquarium operators can submit their facilities, species and activities for assessment. The audit identifies the aquarium and examines its operating practices and evidence. Approval does not automatically cover other facilities in the same group or the ornamental stock sold by a separate supplier.
What the standard covers
These topics summarise Aquarium Standard V1. The checklist distinguishes Essential requirements from Recommendations, including two recommendations that become mandatory after three years. Read the complete checklist for evidence and exceptions.
The aquarium must have a signed environmental policy, designate a person to oversee it and provide evidence of measures implementing the policy.
The checklist restricts keeping birds, mammals and reptiles, while permitting case-by-case exceptions based on evidence of welfare and sourcing. Animals unable to return to the wild may remain, subject to supporting evidence. Recovery animals require documentation of origin, reasons for recovery and a treatment and release plan.
Animals must come from closed-cycle farms or Friend of the Sea certified fisheries. Corals must come from coral farms or be farmed by the aquarium under the specified sourcing conditions. For existing holdings that do not meet these criteria, the checklist requires a formal commitment to compliant future sourcing.
Animal-handling staff must have completed a relevant welfare course. Each species needs suitable nutrition and water quality, supported by a professional feeding plan and the last 12 months of water-quality records. The aquarium must provide a quarantine area and veterinary care.
Where touch tanks or scuba diving are offered, written rules and procedures must address animal welfare and visitor safety. Visitors must receive relevant information on site.
Scientific information beside displays must describe habitats, species status and threats. The aquarium must provide, or commit to establish within 12 months, at least two educational events each year, one for younger visitors and one for adults, and an aquatic-species conservation programme. The programme may be managed or supported by the aquarium.
Water recirculation, lawful waste treatment and recycling are Essential. Energy-efficiency measures and sourcing feed fish from certified fisheries are initially Recommendations that become mandatory three years after first certification.
Wages must comply with the national legal minimum. Contracts must state maximum working hours and minimum rest periods consistent with national law. The aquarium must comply with national requirements on minimum working age and health care provision.
Assessment and certification
Certification fees
Request a quotation for the aquarium facilities and activities to be assessed, covering audit charges and logo royalties. The general royalties price list is available for reference, but it does not provide a clear aquarium-specific charging basis. The quotation confirms the applicable fee, audit arrangements and taxes.
Standard and requirements
Check certification status
Check the relevant product or service, approved scope and current status in the directory. Contact the team if the listing does not identify the facility, vessel or species you need to verify.
Frequently asked questions
The standard restricts these holdings but permits case-by-case exceptions supported by welfare and sourcing evidence. It also includes provisions for animals that cannot be released and for recovery cases. Eligibility therefore requires review of the animals and their circumstances.
The checklist specifies closed-cycle farmed animals or animals from Friend of the Sea certified fisheries and farmed coral sources. For existing holdings outside those provisions, it allows a formal commitment to compliant future sourcing. Certification therefore does not mean that every animal already held has a certified origin.
No. V1 requires an aquatic-species conservation programme, which may be managed by the aquarium or supported through sponsorship. It does not require every aquarium to operate its own conservation breeding programme.
They begin as Recommendations but become mandatory three years after first certification. The feed provision concerns fish used as feed and their source fisheries; it does not mean all feed types must carry the Friend of the Sea logo.
Not automatically. Ornamental species have a separate standard covering collection, handling, transport and traceability. The relevant species and trading activities need their own assessment.
Prepare the species list, purchase and origin records, veterinary and recovery documentation, staff training, feeding plans, water-quality records, education and conservation evidence, waste arrangements and employment records.
Apply for certification
Provide the aquarium location, species list, animal sourcing information and the exhibition, recovery or other activities to be assessed.
Submit the preliminary information form to request a scope review and quotation. The initial enquiry does not commit you to proceeding. If the form does not load, email info@friendofthesea.org.