Fish Farm Production Survey data: EIR release

Information requested

Do the staffing figures in Chart 21 of the Scottish Government’s Fish Farm Production Survey 2024 include people employed on vessels that provide services to fish farms, such as wellboats, lice treatment boats and fish transporters?

If so, how many people are employed in this way and what proportion of them are Scottish nationals, as opposed to Norwegian or Faroese crew members, for example?

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) (Information not held) applies.

I can confirm that staffing figures presented in Chart 21 of the Scottish Government’s Fish Farm Production Survey 2024 refer exclusively to individuals directly employed in fish farm production operations, such as site managers and husbandry staff. They do not include those employed in processing, marketing or by external service providers such as wellboats, lice treatment boats, or fish transporters.

The Marine Directorate does not hold specific data on individuals employed on service vessels, nor on their nationalities. These roles are typically managed by third-party marine service companies and fall outside the scope of the production survey. Accordingly, under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, this information is not held by the Marine Directorate.

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.