Impacts of lice from fish farms on wild Scottish sea trout and salmon: EIR release

Information requested

“The Scottish Government publications website lists the following under Research and Analysis: “Impacts of lice from fish farms on wild Scottish sea trout and salmon : Summary of the Science.”

Where is this published as for example one of the references cited https://data.marine.gov.scot/dataset/pilot-study-determine-effect-anti-sea-lice-agent-marinesurvival- atlantic-salmon-west-coast?

• What is the citation as for example Citation: Morris, D.J., Gauld, N.R., Raynard, R. and Armstrong, J.D. (2019) A Pilot Study To Determine The Effect Of An Anti-Sea Lice Agent On The Marine Survival Of Atlantic Salmon On The West Coast Of Scotland. Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Vol 10 No 5, 15pp. DOI: 10.7489/12212-1
• And the doi?
• Who is/are the author(s)?
• Has it been quality checked/peer reviewed especially as there is an error in the references in which one is incorrectly cited?.

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.

Response to your request

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government (SG) website at the following weblink: Impacts of lice from fish farms on wild Scottish sea trout and salmon: summary of science - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
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(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

We have provided an answer to your other questions individually below:

• What is the citation? This is a SG website publication and not a scientific paper so there is no citation.
• And the doi? As above, so there is no doi.
• Who is/are the author(s)? The website publication has been in existence for a number of years and has been updated as the science has progressed. This process has involved numerous Marine Scotland Science employees. The latest version was published on our website at the link provided on 15 March 2021. It is an evolving publication that will continue being updated periodically.
• Has it been quality checked/peer reviewed especially as there is an error in the references in which one is incorrectly cited. Each time the publication is updated, any updates are peer reviewed internally.

With regards to the incorrect citation you have noted we would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention and it will be corrected in due course.

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.