Regulation of fish and shellfish farm deposits: consultation analysis

Background

The Scottish Government is committed to clarifying the consenting process for aquaculture between 3-12 nautical miles to ensure an effective approach to the regulation and consenting of aquaculture development and activity across Scotland’s inshore region (0-12 nautical miles).

Current regulation requires fish and shellfish farming development from 3 – 12 nautical miles to acquire a Crown Estate Scotland lease, planning permission, a marine licence for discharges and/or equipment (where applicable to the development type) and registration under an aquaculture production business authorisation.

This differs from arrangements from 0 – 3 nautical miles, where the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is the responsible authority for the regulation of fish farm environmental discharges. Marine Directorate - Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT), on behalf of Scottish Ministers, is the responsible authority for this activity between 3-12 nautical miles. This creates an inconsistent approach to the regulation of this activity between 0-12 nautical miles and may lead to duplicated effort, and a need to increase resourcing appropriate expertise within MD-LOT to fulfil this function.

In June 2025, Scottish Ministers 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.

This consultation sought views on Scottish Ministers proposals to amend the regulation of fish farm environmental discharges between 3-12 nautical miles by making SEPA the responsible authority for this activity, and making amendments to exemptions for requirements for marine licences in respect to the deposit of substances and equipment from fish and shellfish farms, for the purpose of consistency and to reduce regulatory duplication.

These would be implemented via Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs).