Clarification of site selection for sea lice sampling: EIR release

Information requested

Further to your response of 24th January regarding the names of the 48 different sites used for sea lice sampling between 2003 and 2009, the full dataset from 1997 to 2019 which was acquired under a previous FOI shows that between the two dates and during the secondary time period laid out in the 2013 Middlemas paper, there are actually 59 locations.

This request seeks the reasons why eleven of the sites were not included in the study. It was not because of the size of the sample because samples of one fish are included in the list of 48 farms provided. Equally all the sites are near salmon farms so would not have been excluded for not having a local farm.

One of the sites excluded is actually the same as one included in the study but spelt incorrectly. Clarification on site selection would be much appreciated.

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

The analysis presented in the paper used the data that was available at the time of publication. It was restricted to 2003-2009 due to the availability of data from salmon farms. The farm data were not available prior to 2003 and so data from 1997-2003 were not included in the analysis. Data after 2009 were not available at the time the analysis was undertaken. In addition, only those sea trout sampled during May-July and which were below 198 mm were included in the analysis.

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