Publication - FOI/EIR release

Mowi salmon farms made inactive since 1 January 2021: EIR release

Published: 21 March 2024
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300340061
Date received: 26 January 2023
Date responded: 16 February 2023

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

Information ‘on Mowi salmon farms made inactive since 1 January 2021’ further requesting ‘information pertaining to the reasons why any sites have been made inactive’ and in addition a request to ‘include any reference to the organic status being rescinded’.

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

I can advise you that with respect to sites operated by Mowi Scotland Ltd and within the timescale of your request, only one fish farm site (Sconser, FS0602) has been made inactive during that period.

I enclose a copy of some of the information held in relation to the inactivation of Sconser, this includes:

An email communication with Mowi Scotland Ltd
Two registration amendment documents

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.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have information relating to the organic status of the site Sconser with respect to the sites inactivation in October 2022. Whilst we may hold some information relating to the organic status of some sites, within the case information associated with our aquatic animal health surveillance programme, we have no statutory requirement to collect this type of information. You can access published information relating to aquatic animal health surveillance activities on our website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorate-information/

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the ‘rescinding’ of the organic status of any giving fish farm site, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Some further context in relation to site inactivation

For your information, the authorisation of Aquaculture Production Businesses (APBs) is undertaken in accordance with the Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 by Marine Scotland’s Fish Health Inspectorate. The principle of authorisation relates directly to aquatic animal health purposes where a business would be authorised to farm at one or more fish farm sites in accordance with their authorisation conditions. You can find further details concerning authorisation on our website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/fish-health-inspectorate-authorisation-and-registration/

The inactivation of any specific site is usually instigated at the request of the APB and is generally a consequence of the business’ production plans. Typically a site will be inactivated if there are no immediate plans to utilise it for farming or production, as was the case with the Sconser (FS0602) site. Following inactivation, there is a requirement to request an amendment to an APB’s authorisation to operate should there be an intention to stock the site in the future.

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.