Marine Scotland licences granted to former mussel farm at Aird Fhada/Fada: EIR release

Information requested

My FOI request relates to a former mussel farm at Aird Fhada/Fada, Loch Scridain, Isle Of Mull, Argyll & Bute which was operated by the company Celtic Sea Limited (Company number SC129691).

I have searched on https://marine.gov.scot/ but have been unable to find any licences granted by Marine Scotland in respect of that former mussel farm.

I would be grateful if you could send me the following information:

• Copies of any licences granted to Celtic Sea Limited (company number SC129691) by Marine Scotland.
• Copies of all marine licences granted in respect of Aird Fhada/Fada, Loch Scridain, Isle Of Mull, Argyll & Bute by Marine Scotland.

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.

I enclose some of the information requested. 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 regulation 11(2) - personal information of a third party, of the EIRs apply to that information. The reason why this exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Some of the information you have requested regarding the licences is publicly available at the following link :-
Marine Licence – Algal Farm – Aird Fada, Mull - 00008878 | marine.gov.scot

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 listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you that Marine Scotland Information (MSI), which hosts Marine Licences and Consenting Applications was launched in 2015. Prior to this date Licences and Consenting Applications were not published.

We have also issued a certificate of authorisation. This is effectively a permission for the business to operate at a number of sites (including Aird Fhada (Slochd Bay) (SS0254)) in accordance with the requirements under the Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Marine Scotland was formed in April 2009 and became the Marine Directorate from 2023. Where available we have provided licences pre the formation of Marine Scotland/Marine Directorate.

ANNEX
REASON FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Regulation 11(2) – To the extent that environmental information requested includes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject and in relation to which either the first or second condition set out in paragraphs (3) and (4) is satisfied, a Scottish public authority shall not make the personal data available.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (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 https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500449166 - Information Released - Annex A

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PDF

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18.5 MB

EIR 202500449166 - Information Released - Annex B

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PDF

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8.5 MB