Scottish Farmed Salmon: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
FOI reference: FOI/18/00710
Date received: 6 March 2018
Date responded: 16 April 2018
Information requested
You asked for information on viruses, diseases, bacteria, listeria, salmonella and other disease, viral and bacterial agents in Scottish farmed salmon since 1 January 2017. Upon clarification of your request, I indicated that information relating 2017 has either been supplied in responses to previous requests, or has already been made (or will be made) publicly available. Therefore, the time period covered for this request was revised from 1 January 2018 to 6 March 2018.
I further clarified your request for 'other data on viruses, diseases, bacteria, listeria, salmonella and other disease, viral and bacterial agents in Scottish farmed salmon since 1 January 2017' specifically questioning what 'other data' you were referring to. You replied by stipulating that this was 'covered already' and refers to 'data on the presence of the above [specified pathogens and diseases] in Scottish farmed salmon'.
As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Response
Please find attached mortality information reported to the Fish Health Inspectorate between 1 December and 6 March 2018.
You will also find some additional information through Marine Scotland's Fish Health Inspectorate's active publication plan. This involves the publication of case information relating to aquatic animal health surveillance in Scotland. Information is published on a quarterly basis, three months in arrears: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Fish-Shellfish/FHI/CaseInformation
Responses to other requests for information are published on the Scottish Government website and these may contain further information which is useful to your request: /publications/
Please be aware that Marine Scotland does not hold a comprehensive data set of mortalities and diseases across salmon farms farms operated within Scotland.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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