Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place or planned to ensure that enforcement bodies and the fish farming industry fully understand and comply with legal welfare requirements for farmed fish across their entire lifecycle.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are responsible for considering welfare complaints and investigating potential breaches in welfare legislation.
APHA veterinarians have the professional knowledge and training to assess against the welfare needs set out in Section 24 (3) of The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.
The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is a sector developed code which supports producers in understanding and delivering their obligations around welfare and other matters. Compliance with the code may form part of the range evidence used by APHA in considering whether obligations have been breached.