Monitoring and Enforcement

Controls on aquaculture at a site or area level require monitoring and enforcement to be effective. These include inspections by fish health inspectors from Marine Scotland and environmental inspectors from SEPA.

Fish health inspectors (FHI) visit farms according to a risk-based surveillance schedule (annually for high risk, every 2 years for medium risk and every third year for low risk). In the event of the inspector suspecting any health problems, a diagnostic sample will be taken and screened for notifiable pathogens. FHI also visit sites when notified of suspicion of the presence of a notifiable disease. Recently the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) agreed its members should report marine mortality events in excess of 1 percent per week or totalling 4 percent over 5 weeks (1.5 percent and 6 percent when fish <750 g) and this too may provide information to target inspections. FHI also inspect records maintained on sites, including for sea lice, and collect the movement records for that site. This FHI activity, and industry reporting, is vital for detection of otifiable disease required for the timely establishment of controls in DMAs.

 

SEPA inspectors visit sites regularly to test for residues of medicines and to confirm records on the disposal of mortalities are correctly recorded. This is essential to ensure treatment is according to approved schedules and SEPA will prosecute if unauthorised substances are detected.
SEPA and FHI inspectors will notify each other of suspicions that lie in the other’s competency and may also inform other authorities, such as the official APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) vets if welfare breaches are observed, the APHA vets may decide to prosecute in this case.
As well as official regulators, the industry itself collects data and ensures compliance with the Code of Good Practice. Although compliance is voluntary, the SSPO can decide to suspend its members following any breach of the Code. The CoGP is independently audited and the majority of the industry are signed up to following the Code. Documented production standards can be important in supermarket purchasing decisions. The SSPO also maintains a database for monitoring sea lice and other health issues (such as gill pathologies) which is useful for cooperation between farms in an area. Published summary data identifies area performance (although at a slightly larger scale than FMAs) which is an incentive to improve performance.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) also ensures welfare standards through their Freedom Foods standard, which 70 percent of Scottish salmon industry, by biomass, is signed up to.
The World Wide Fund for Nature, through the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue has developed standards for sustainable salmon that are maintained by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. Both standards include requirements for cooperative management with other farms in the same area, especially for sea lice control.