Salmon farm waste: EIR release

Information requested

All information held on; destinations, receivers, disposal sites and disposal methods of all controlled wastes and salmon mortalities from salmon farms. 

Does any form of salmon mortality waste end up being used as “fertiliser” for agriculture or as a constituent of animal feed, pet food or anything other than being buried or incinerated? If so, I would like all the information please.

and

By “Controlled waste”, I was referring to any waste other than salmon mortalities, such as effluent from the salmon cages or spilled/waste feed, also human wastes from the toilet facilities on feed barges etc. 

Perhaps not all of that is “controlled”.

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

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not responsible for the subject in question. 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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Waste and controlled waste in fish farms, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold. 

However, you may wish to contact The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) at foi@sepa.org.uk, and the relevant Local Authority (LA) for the area you may be interested in who may be able to help you. You can look up the LA contact details using this website: Find your local council in Scotland - mygov.scot 

SEPA is Scotland’s principle regulator responsible for the protection and improvement of Scotland’s environment. They have regulatory responsibility for much of the controlled wastes to which your request relates to. The relevant Local Authority will also have some involvement, particularly with respect to refuse collection and disposal. I would suggest that you direct this part of your query to SEPA (foi@sepa.org.uk) who may be able to provide more detail and the information you are looking for. 

Some of the information you have requested is available in the following websites mentioned below. 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 websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. 

Marine Scotland’s Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI), who are responsible for aquatic animal health regulations within Scotland, do not routinely regulate or collect information relating to the controlled wastes to which you refer. In a situation where a listed disease or pathogen has been detected then additional statutory controls will be placed upon a defined designated area (e.g. the extent of a fish farm site and appropriate surrounding waters). Such controls may include restrictions over the movement of any equipment, material or substance liable to transmit disease. Regulation by the FHI, of any controlled wastes outwith the designated area and the appropriate disposal of the same, may be undertaken to help reduce the risk of further spread of aquatic animal disease and will be done in consultation with SEPA and the Local Authorities where necessary. 

Information relating to the surveillance and inspection programme undertaken by the FHI, including the findings and outcomes of inspections is published on the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorate-information/. Any information held which is relevant to your request and which has been collected through the inspection process will be published there. 

As part of their aquatic animal disease surveillance programme, Marine Scotland’s Fish Health Inspectorate routinely record information on mortalities including details of mortality disposal. This information is subject to regular publication – the findings, results and information relating to completed inspections is available on the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/publication-of-fish-health-inspectorate-information/ 

Animal by-products (ABPs) are animal carcasses, parts of animals, or other materials which come from animals but are not meant for humans consumption. They can either be destroyed or can be used to make compost, biogas or other products. The disposal of dead fish and aquatic ABPs is covered by the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013. Any business generating material of aquatic origin which is not intended for human consumption needs to process these in the correct manner. Information on the disposal, ensiling, burning and transport of dead farmed fish and aquatic ABPs can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/animal-by- products-disposal-guidance/pages/disposal-of-aquaculture-animal-by-products/ 

It is the responsibility of individual salmon farms to dispose of their own waste appropriately. The Scottish Government does not hold the commercially sensitive information relating to how waste from each salmon farm is processed. Business that handle and dispose of ABPs need to be approved and salmon farms should use one of these companies to dispose of their ABP waste. The Animal and Plant Health Agency publish details of approved and registered ABP operating plants in Great Britain and the Channel Islands: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-by-product-operating-plants- approved-premises 

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.