Fish farm mortalities at the Bakkafrost site at Portree queries: EIR release

Information requested

Part of your request is for answers to questions rather than data or information held. We will therefore split the response as follows:

You asked for:

Information relating to fish farm mortalities at the Bakkafrost site at Portree, Isle of Skye, specifically:

1. "Confirmation & cause: Has FHI received notifications of a mass mortality event at the site. Please confirm the date range, and the identified/suspected cause(s)(e.g., harmful algal bloom/gill irritation, jellyfish, low oxygen/heat stress, PD/other listed disease, treatment/handling incident).

2. Scale: What are the weekly mortality figures (number of fish and estimated biomass) reported for the affected weeks? On which dates did mortalities peak?

3. Regulatory response: Has FHI opened a case and/or attended the site? Please provide any case/inspection reference numbers, inspection dates, and any enforcement outcomes (letters of advice, restrictions, directions).

4. Carcass management & biosecurity: How are mortalities being stored, transported and disposed (e.g., sealed containers to rendering/AD)?"

This part of the request will be responded to as a request for information under the EIRs.

You also asked the following questions:

"4. Have you liaised with SEPA regarding any environmental incident reports?

5. Human health & water users:

• Based on what you know, is it safe for the public to enter the water in/around the site and adjacent shores?
• Have you issued or recommended any public advisories to Highland Council Environmental Health, SEPA, NHS Highland Public Health or HM Coastguard?
• If the mortality drivers include algal or biological agents, do you assess any risk to human health (e.g., skin/eye irritation, aerosol exposure to operatives) or seafood safety for local creel fisheries?"

This part of the request will be responded to outwith the EIRs under additional information.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. Please find enclosed a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet which details the mortality notifications received by the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) for the two sites - Portree and Portree Outer. This includes the date ranges, suspected causes and weekly mortality figures (including number of fish and average weight of the affected population from which you can estimate the biomass).

The answers to your questions covered by the EIRs are:

Confirmation & cause: Yes, the FHI has received notifications of a mortality event at the Portree and Portree Outer sites. These are detailed in the attached spreadsheet.

Scale: Mortality figures are included in the attached spreadsheet. At the time of your request figures were available up to week ending 28 September, which showed the highest weekly figure. Since receiving your request additional data has been submitted. Please see additional information for further details.

Regulatory response: The FHI attended both sites on 24th September 2025. The case numbers for the visits are 20250361 for Portree and 20250362 for Portree Outer. One minor issue was raised in relation to historical mortality records which has since been resolved. Full case paperwork will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course in line with our proactive publication plan:

Fish Health Inspectorate case information: 2025 - gov.scot

Carcass management & biosecurity: Information obtained during the above site visits indicates that mortalities are normally ensiled and the ensiled material stored on the site barge prior to it being transferred to Kyle of Lochalsh where they are collected by road tanker. Additional ensiling has been undertaken on one of the site workboats on this occasion. Ensiled material is then transferred by road tanker to a biogas facility for treatment. No specific detail is recorded on containment during transport.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide you with the following additional information in response to the questions you raised:

Scale: Further mortality reports have been received since the date of your request which will be published in due course (reports are published monthly, one month in arrears on the Scottish Government website - Fish Health Inspectorate: mortality information - gov.scot). However, I can advise you that mortality peaked the week commencing 29th September and was reported to the FHI on 13th October.

Carcass management & biosecurity: The FHI have not communicated with SEPA regarding any environmental incident reports. From the information obtained during the site visits there is no reason to suspect an environmental incident has occurred.

Human health & water users: None of the identified causes of mortality are a known human health concern. However, the FHI does not have responsibility for public health and water safety, therefore your question regarding whether it is safe for the public to enter the water would be better directed to Public Health Scotland or the local authority environmental health team.

The FHI has not issued or recommended public advisories to the authorities listed. This is not a course of action that would normally be undertaken by the FHI.

As above, the FHI do not have responsibility for public health or seafood safety therefore we do not carry out risk assessments for these purposes.

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.

EIR 202500488697 - Information released - Annex

File type

Excel document

File size

17.0 kB