Aquadat entry & photos for Mowi's Blar Mhor FHI: EIR release

Information requested

Request refers to information relating to our case number 2022-0165 that can be found on page 141 of the following published document:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/transparency-data/2022/03/fishhealth-inspectorate-case-information-2022/documents/may-2022/cases-202200146-20220171/cases-20220014620220171/govscot%3Adocument/Cases%2B20220146-20220171.pdf

On page 141 it states “A copy of the APE checklist, site photos and schematic of treatment plant are attached to the Aquadat entry.”

You asked us: “Where is this Aquadat entry? Could you please make this available and explain what Aquadat is?”

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. 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.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested, specifically a redacted copy of the APE checklist, site photos and schematic of treatment plant.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested and has been redacted because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

A brief written description of Aquadat is provided on one of the web pages within our Scottish Government (SG) Intranet system “Saltire”, two extracts from which are provided below:

• the webpage states that the Aquadat system is “maintained by Science” (the Marine Scotland Science Division of Marine Scotland), and
• that it is “For storing, managing, and reporting on business details, site details and case records relating to fish and shellfish farms in Scotland.”

However, under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to answer your question, about what Aquadat is and where it can be found, more fully. The explanation and information below is being provided to you out with the EIRs and so is not subject to review.

The Aquadat system is a bespoke SG database application which contains the details of all authorised and registered aquaculture production businesses and sites, fisheries, processing facilities and other similar enterprises. It stores the details of official controls carried out on these enterprises, including health surveillance visits and movement controls. This data is used by Marine Scotland in its regulatory role with regards to aquaculture and additionally allows information to be extracted and provided for planning advice, briefing and freedom of information requests. Data are extracted to provide updates to Marine Scotland’s National Marine Plan interactive (NMPI) and Scotland’s Aquaculture website. Aquadat consists of a web-based front end which allows for input, update and searching by authorised SG staff, connected to a Structured Query Language (SQL) backend where the data is stored.

Most of the information from Aquadat is available from the publicly available sources linked below. However, personal data of any third parties is not published as disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

National Marine Plan Interactive - https://marinescotland.atkinsgeospatial.com/nmpi/?mapcenter=-370515,7915192&zoomlevel=6&layers=1586,1587
Scotland’s Aquaculture - http://aquaculture.scotland.gov.uk/
Publication of case information- https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorateinformation/
Register of APBs and APEs - https://www.gov.scot/publications/registers-of-authorised-aquacultureproduction-businesses-and-authorised-processing-establishments/
Movement restrictions on fish and shellfish - Movement restrictions on fish and shellfish - Fish Health Inspectorate - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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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 202200323305 - Information released

File type

8 page PDF

File size

2.3 MB