Wellboats chemical licensing and related database information: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01265
Date received: 1 May 2018
Date responded: 28 June 2018

Information requested

'Information on well boat licences issued by MS-LOT to fish farm operators to permit the discharge of chemotherapeutants. Please provide copies of all well boat licences and copies of well boat licence returns detailing chemical use. Finally, please clarify whether the use of chemical via well boats is included in the data published via the Scotland's Aquaculture database: http://aquaculture.scotland.gov.uk/data/fish_farms_monthly_biomass_and_treatment_reports.aspx i.e. Is well boat chemical use included or not via Scotland's Aquaculture database? If so, when was well boat chemical use data included?"

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

See below a link to most of the information you requested:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a96fujp5m3kggkm/AADwOgnak7P9a88i-USwM87Ia?dl=0

The answers to your questions in relation to Scotland's Aquaculture website are yes and 2014. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 11(2) (personal information of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why this exception applies are explained below.

Reasons for not providing information

An exception under regulation 11(2) (personal information of a third party) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested.

Regulation 11(2) – personal information of a third party. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EISRs (personal information of a third party) 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.

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