Site inspection of fish farm at Loch Ness: EIR release

Information requested

A specific case (site inspection) undertaken by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate relating to the fish farm Loch Ness and case number 2022- 0474. Specifically, your request stipulated:

1) In the first paragraph of the Summary for Information of site Operator: Case Completion Report, dated 01/05/24, it states that: “evidence has now been provided to the Fish Health Inspectorate to demonstrate that the recommendations have been implemented” I would like to request a copy that information and evidence.

2) In the Summary for Information of site Operator: Escape Investigation, dated 01/05/24, I would like to request copies of the reports mentioned in the second and third paragraphs, including the reports issued on the 8th December 2022, and the 20 December 2022.

3) Copies of all emails or other written correspondence with Mowi, or any other party, relating to Case 20220474 from 1st August 2022 to 26th September 2024.

Response

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.

With respect to part 3 of your request we have enclosed information relating to communications concerning case 20220474 and the time scale of your request. These communications include evidence provided by the company to help demonstrate the implementation of the recommendations made in relation to the case, as requested in part 1 of your request.

In relation to part 2 of your request, you have asked for copies of reports relating to the case, which were issued on the 8th and 20th of December 2022. I can advise you that both of these reports have been published and are available along with the other case details relating to 20220474 on the Scottish Government website - https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorateinformation/

In addition to the above, cases 20220595 and 20220600 both relate to the Loch Ness site and represent follow up visits, associated with 20220474, to look at specific actions and procedures on site. These include the movement of pens from the site and the transfer of fish off site, Details of these cases are also available on the web site detailed in the above paragraph. In relation to case 20220600, Doc 89 - Loch Ness Fish Transfer (1), has been provided within the information being released.

Given the extent of the information being released, including a large number of documents, we have included a Document Schedule which details the documents that have been released, why some have been withheld and the reason behind any redactions applied.

Please be aware that there is a significant amount of repetition and duplication of some of the information provided to you. This is specifically the case with respect to email documents and has resulted through the branching of separate discussions from an original email chain, or situations where attachments have been applied to specific emails.

Exceptions apply

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website and details of this are provided either above or within the within the Index of Enclosures. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

An exception under regulation 11(2) 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. Please note that where redactions appear as ‘blanked out highlights’ these also relate to personal information.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This includes draft documents: 2a - Word Doc - 20220474_R10 (draft containment enhanced inspection report); and 53a - 20220474 - Loch Ness CNA update (draft containment enhanced inspection checklist), as detailed in the Index of Enclosures. In both situations the final version of these documents have been completed and are published with the case information for 20220474: https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorate-information/

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release of specific documents, as part of open, transparent and accountable government, although the final versions of these documents have already been published. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information is not disclosed when it might give a misleading impression of the matter to which the information relates. This position is supported by the fact that the documents have now been completed and made publicly available.

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above.

If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.