Regulation of fish and shellfish farm deposits: associated impact assessments

Introduction

There is now growing interest within the aquaculture sector to develop farms beyond 3 nautical miles from the coast, with developments in technology making farms in this region feasible.

The Scottish Government is committed to clarifying the consenting process for aquaculture between 3-12 nautical miles, with the intention to ensure a consistent approach to the regulation and consenting of aquaculture development and activity across the 0-12 nautical mile zone.

Scottish Ministers recently introduced the Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2025 to ensure consistency in approach to aquaculture planning regulations across the 0-12 nautical mile zone, by identifying relevant local planning authorities as the responsible body for assessing and determining fish and shellfish farm planning applications out to 12 nautical miles.

By extension, the proposals set out in the accompanying consultation paper are being brought forward to ensure fish farm developments between 3-12 nautical miles are appropriately assessed, licenced and regulated in respect to environmental discharges, in a consistent manner with how that activity is regulated between 0-3 nautical miles in place of a division in regulatory responsibilities between SEPA and Scottish Government as would currently be the case for discharges. These environmental discharges include organic waste, medicinal residues and sea lice.

In addition, amendments to existing marine licence ‘exempted activities’ provisions are proposed for the purposes of reducing regulatory duplication for fish and shellfish farm developments.

The Scottish Government is required to consider the impacts of proposed policies, plans or strategic decisions in relation to equalities, various societal groups and sectors, data protection and the environment, under a range of legislation and commitments.

This document provides details on all impact assessment screenings and impact assessments undertaken.