Live cleaner fish movements: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
You referred to a previous request (EIR 2024004270[4]5) relating to cleaner fish transfers to fish farms and which covered the time period of January 2023 to 17 August 2024. You have now asked for equivalent data for ‘the balance of 2024’.
We confirmed by email on 24 February 2025 how we would handle your request. In our communications with you, we reiterated the fact that the surveillance programme applied to fish farm sites in Scotland, takes place over a three-year time period. Under the current programme a complete set of movement records covering 2024 may not be available until late 2027.
Consequently, we confirmed with you that we would identify sites which have been inspected between 17 August and the 31 December 2024 and include any relevant records relating to these, going back to the beginning of 2020, or the date of the last inspection.
Response
Please find attached a copy of extracted information from the movement records collected through the Marine Directorate’s aquatic animal health surveillance programme, relevant to sites inspected between 17 August and 31 December 2024.
It is not always possible to tell from the information held the exact source of the cleaner fish, or indeed whether these relate to wild or farmed animals. In some situations, we have annotated the spreadsheet to include instances of suspected wild caught fish.
Exceptions apply
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested 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. This specifically applies to names of individuals involved in the capture of wild wrasse species.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG