Scotland's shellfish water protected area (SWPA) designations - review: consultation

5. Initial review method

An initial review of potential areas for designation was undertaken by SEPA using production data for the last four years. As part of its work to ensure the safe production of shellfish, FSS, Scotland’s independent food safety regulator, collects data on E.coli levels in shellfish in order to classify shellfish production areas. SEPA used this aggregated data to identify areas of economically significant shellfish production (defined as the production of Oysters and Mussels) to identify areas where new SWPAs may be appropriate, and areas where it might be appropriate to de-designate current SWPAs.