Salmon Fishing Proposed River Gradings for 2024 Season: Data Protection Impact Assessment

3. Description of the project and personal data

3.1 Description of the work

The Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016 outlined for the first time a system, under which, the killing of Atlantic salmon in inland waters is managed on an annual basis by categorising the conservation status of their stocks.

In general terms, the regulations:

a. prohibit the retention of salmon caught in coastal waters;

b. permit the killing of salmon within inland waters where stocks are above a defined conservation limit and;

c. require mandatory catch and release of salmon in areas which fall below their defined conservation limit following the assessment of salmon stocks.

The conservation of stocks is re-assessed each year and we consult annually on proposals for the following fishing season. After the consultation has concluded and evidence has been reviewed, the regulations are amended accordingly.

More information can be viewed on our webpages at https://www.gov.scot/policies/salmon-and-recreational-fisheries/conservation/ (general team policy page), the most recent version of our consultation is viewable at Salmon fishing: proposed river gradings for 2024 season and our outcome report from the consultation will be available from https://www.gov.scot/policies/salmon-and-recreational-fisheries/conservation/.

On 9 August 2023, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation seeking views on the proposed river gradings for the 2024 salmon fishing season under the Conservation of Salmon Regulations.

The consultation asked 8 questions, with a mixture of closed and open questions. There was no text limit for the free text responses. The consultation received 37 responses from a mix of individuals and organisations.

The overall aim of the consultation was to seek views on the proposed river gradings which will inform the Conservation of Salmon Regulations. The Scottish Government will provide a clear and concise outcome report for publication, which reflects an analysis of the consultation responses, in order to inform the amendment regulations.

i. Consultation Process

The consultation was hosted on Citizen Space, the Scottish Government's digital platform for consultations, and published on the Consultation Hub, enabling people to submit their response online. Citizen Space is managed by the Scottish Government’s Digital Engagement Team. Consultations are also published on the Scottish Government website, enabling people to email or post a response.

The consultation ran for 4 weeks between – 09/08/2023 – 08/09/2023.

ii. Governance

The governance arrangements for the Consultation broadly involve the following:

1. Consultation Manager (Scottish Government): usually the policy lead for the Consultation.

2. Digital Engagement Manager, Comms (Scottish Government): manages the Citizen Space element of the consultation process.

In addition, the Data Protection and Information Assets Team may have some involvement in providing expertise to ensure that sufficient data protection measures are established and carried out.

Reporting

The Scottish Government will be responsible for the analysis of the consultation responses, as well as the preparation of the final outcome report. The final consultation analysis report is due to be completed by December 2023. The report will be published on the Scottish Government’s website. The Scottish Government will provide quality assurance, which includes checking for personally identifiable information.

It is the responsibility of the Scottish Government to ensure that their methods do not contravene the provisions of current Data Protection Laws. Data Protection Laws means any law, statute, subordinate legislation, regulation, order, mandatory guidance or code of practice, judgement of a relevant court of law, or directives or requirements of any regulatory body which relates to the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of Personal Data to which a Party is subject including the Data Protection Act 2018 and any statutory modification of re-enactment thereof, and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC.

Risk Management

Managing risk, including disclosure of personal data or the possibility of an individual being identified in data outputs, is essential to the successful operation of the consultation. Risk management, data protection, and research ethics were key considerations in planning and carrying out this consultation analysis. Measures will be continually reviewed to ensure that personal data is handled in accordance with data protection legislation.

3.2 Personal data to be processed

Variable – Name Data source – Citizen Space, via email or postal responses

Number of data subjects (people) – Estimate about 100

Categories of data subjects – Not applicable

Data subjects relationship to controller – Self-selecting respondents

Variable – Email address Data source - Citizen Space, via email or postal responses

Number of data subjects (people) – Estimate about 100

Categories of data subjects – Not applicable

Data subjects relationship to controller – Self-selecting respondents

Variable – Postal address Data source - Citizen Space, via email or postal responses

Number of data subjects (people) – Estimate about 100

Categories of data subjects – Not applicable

Data subjects relationship to controller – Self-selecting respondents

Variable – Whether a person is responding on behalf of an organisation, or issuing a response as an individual. (If respondent is from an organisation, they are asked the type of organisation – retailer, public sector, manufacturer etc.).

Data source - Citizen Space, via email or postal responses

Number of data subjects (people) – Estimate about 100

Categories of data subjects – Anglers, DSFBs, Rivers and/or Fisheries Trusts, eNGOs, angling clubs, businesses with an interest in the river gradings [i.e. effect on their business] etc.

Data subjects relationship to controller – Self-selecting respondents

3.3 How this data will be processed

Data Controller and Data Processors

Data Controller: The Scottish Government.

The Information Asset Owner is: Caroline Cowan, Deputy Director for Marine Environment Portfolio

Publication

During the data collection process, all respondents are asked to provide information about themselves, either via the Citizen Space online platform or by completing a Respondent Information Form. This form asks respondents to state their publication preference as follows:

The Scottish Government would like your permission to publish your consultation response. Please indicate your publishing preference:

Publish response with name

Publish response only (without name)

Do not publish response

If individual respondents do not answer this question, the default position is not to publish their response.

If organisation respondents select ‘do not publish’ or do not answer this question, the organisation name may still be listed as having responded to the consultation.

Respondents are also asked to indicate whether they are content to be contacted again in the future by the Scottish Government in relation to this specific consultation exercise.

Data Collection, Storage and Transfer

Data will be predominately collected from data subjects electronically via the Citizen Space online platform. Some respondents may submit their response via post or email. Responses received via Citizen Space are automatically entered into a database (downloadable onto Excel).

Data entry of responses received via email/post will be:

- Undertaken by the Scottish Government directly onto the online platform.

- Uploaded as attachments on to the online platform for data entry by the Scottish Government.

Data Access: The Scottish Government has login details for Citizen Space (for this consultation only), where they will be able to access the consultation responses submitted online or uploaded as attachments, and download the database of online responses onto Microsoft Excel.

The database will include all or some of the following information about each respondent who replied using the online data form:

- Name

- Email address

- Responding as an individual or an organisation?

- (If responding on behalf of an organisation) Organisation’s name and sector (from list of options - e.g. public, private, third).

- Permission to publish consultation response? (public response with name, publish response only, do not publish response).

- Content to be contacted by the Scottish Government in the future in relation to this consultation exercise?

- All inputted responses to the consultation questions.

OR

The database will include all or some of the following information about each respondent who replied by email or post and either completed a Respondent Information Form or provided the information within their response.

- Name

- Email address

- Address

- Postcode

- Responding as an individual or an organisation?

- (If responding on behalf of an organisation) Organisation’s name and sector (from list of options - e.g. public, private, third).

- Permission to publish consultation response? (public response with name, publish response only, do not publish response).

- Content to be contacted by the Scottish Government in the future in relation to this consultation exercise?

- All inputted responses to the consultation questions.

Data Cleaning:

Before beginning the analysis, we will identify any blank or duplicate responses. Multiple different responses submitted by the same individual or organisation will be combined into a single composite response, using an approach agreed within the Scottish Government. Blank responses will be removed before analysis.

For audit and quality control purposes, a record should be kept of any exclusions or changes made to responses included in the final database (i.e. any responses that are excluded from the analysis and the reason for exclusion; any identified as campaign responses; and any reclassification of organisation type). This information should be provided in a separate worksheet within the master database and referred to in the final report.

Data Publication

Responses will be published in accordance with respondents’ expressed publication preferences.

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be published, with or without their name, and after the Scottish Government has redacted any defamatory content which contravenes the moderation policy, consultation responses will be published at http://consult.gov.scot.

Data Purging and Archival

Data Protection advice: information should only be kept for as long as is necessary to achieve the purpose it was collected for, and the exact length of time should be decided by the business area collecting the data. We are suggesting a maximum three years.

3.4 The purpose/purposes of the processing

The views sought during the consultation are to inform the annual amendment to the Conservation of Salmon Regulations.