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

8. Potential benefits and negative impacts of new SWPA designations

The designation of SWPAs can have benefits and negative impacts for a range of stakeholders. Ministers have an obligation when deciding on SWPA designations to consider whether the designations of the proposed SWPAs are proportionate to any potential impacts (e.g. costs) of the designations. We would welcome any evidence of benefits and negative impacts, both generally and specific to the proposed individual SWPAs set out above. This information will support the continued development of a Business and Regulation Impact Assessment. We have published a partial BRIA which begins to set out some of these benefits and negative impacts.

For the shellfish industry, the designation of SWPAs may have benefits, offering additional protection from pollution, or the potential for investigations to support water quality improvements where necessary. There may also be benefits to communities, for example supporting rural jobs.

There may be other impacts, including financial for stakeholders. While investment in wastewater treatment assets is not always a requirement, for Scottish Water there is likely to be financial impacts if assets require investment to protect water quality. Scottish Water has invested over £72.7 million in relation to SWPA drivers since 2002 on actions to protect SWPAs. Six of the 14 proposed new designations are within 3 km of a Scottish Water asset, these are:

• Eilean an Atha
• Hamar Voe
• Loch Kanaird
• Loch Sunart
• Mid Noost Pacific Oysters

There may also be financial implications for other stakeholders. For example, private septic tanks or run-off from agricultural land may impact water quality in these areas, leading to the need for private investment to protect and improve water quality.

There could also be impacts on SEPA. Five of the proposed areas have been recently and consistently classified as less than Class A, and it is unclear if all of these sites can achieve Class A. If these sites are designated as SWPAs, SEPA may need to undertake additional investigations to identify sources of pollution and potential solutions to mitigate the pollution, if possible. An alternative would be to not designate sites where it is unclear if they can achieve Class A since we want to encourage shellfish production in areas of the highest water quality. The sites with recent or consistent classifications at less than Class A are:

• Bay of Skaill: Westray
• Kidonan Oysters
• Kyle of Durness
• Loch Kanaird
• Mid Noost Pacific Oysters