Marine finfish site FS0605 - Creag an T'Sagairt (Loch Hourn).: EIR release

Information requested

“I refer to marine finfish site FS0605 - Creag an T'Sagairt (Loch Hourn).
Please provide the following information:
(i) copies of any current licences issued under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, or predecessor legislation, in respect of this farm site, to include any mooring licences or relevant well boat licences;
(ii) copies of any returns submitted to Scottish Government / Marine Scotland / FHI, and any other data held, in respect of any well-boat treatments or discharges made in relation to the treatment, for any reason, of farmed fish at this site, to cover the last 5 years; and
(iii) details of any discussions, since the start of 2018, in respect of Loch Hourn, to include all correspondence or communication, in whatever form, between Mowi, it’s servants or agents, and Scottish Government / Marine Scotland / FHI, in relation to:
a. any proposed expansion (whether in equipment to be used or biomass to be held) at this farm site;
and 
b. any draft Environment Management Plan, or similar, to address interactions with wild fish in Loch Hourn.”

Response

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.
(i) In respect of this farm site, there are two current licences:
- LICENCE FOR MARINE FARM WORKS - Licence number 05977/16/0
- LICENCE TO DEPOSIT ANY SUBSTANCE OR OBJECT WITHIN THE SCOTTISH MARINE AREA
– CHEMICALS OR AGENTS FROM WELLBOATS – Licence number 07052/19/0
I enclose a partially redacted electronic copy of licence number 05977/16/0. In this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 11(2) (personal information of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

A copy of the licence number 07052/19/0 is published on our website at the following link: http://marine.gov.scot/data/07052-marine-licence

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
(ii) Nil Discharge Returns were submitted for 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 at this site.
We do not yet hold completed Discharge Returns for 2019 & 2020 at this site.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because of an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (information not held) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why this exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

The Discharge Returns for 2019 should be completed within the next two months.
The Discharge Returns for 2020 should be completed within the first half of 2021.

I note your request specifies information held by Marine Scotland’s Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI). The FHI hold some information relating to treatments applied on fish farm sites which is collected as part of the aquatic animal health surveillance programme. The information which is held is made publicly available on the Scottish Government website:
https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorate-information/
(iii) In relation to part (iii) of your request Marine Scotland provided a response to the local authority in relation to a scoping application to increase the number of pens and the biomass on the Loch Hourn fish farm site. The response we have provided, along with other associated documentation is available on the council web portal:
https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PIJSVGIH0GN00

We hold no further information regarding part (iii) of your request.
Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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.

FOI-202000068316 - Information released

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