Emamectin benzoate (EmBz) - environmental quality standard (EQS) - implementation: consultation

Purpose

This paper sets out Scottish Government's directions to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) on the application of a new EQS for EmBz. This ensures that SEPA exercise its regulatory and river basin management planning functions. Emamectin benzoate is widely used in the fish farm industry to control sea lice in marine finfish farming.

Our policy statement, provides general information on how we expect SEPA to use EQS for the water environment and how those standards are developed.

The new EQS for EmBz is lower than the EQS SEPA has used previously to set discharge limits for marine finfish farms. We are seeking views on the timescale SEPA should implement to apply the new EQS reducing the discharge limits for these farms. This will enable consistency of EQS levels across all regulated farms in order to achieve improved environmental quality.

SEPA are already using the new EQS for new finfish farms to protect the water environment from deterioration. However, the impact on finfish farm businesses and the operational timescales to make necessary adaptations are important factors. We need to consider these before deciding when action to reduce discharge limits at existing farms should be taken.