Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that, after the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) was informed that the Aird salmon farm had been declared fallow while fish were still present, several weeks of sea-lice count data were retrospectively reclassified by FHI as a “withdrawal period prior to harvesting”, despite no harvesting subsequently taking place, what its position is on whether such retrospective reclassification of lice count data is appropriate, and whether there is a standard process for handling incidents where a site is declared fallow while salmon remain on site.
Aquaculture Production Business(APBs)may notify the Fish Health Inspectorate(FHI)of any corrections to sea lice counts which can legitimately occur and information in the public domain states that the publicly available sea lice count record may be subject to change.
Where counts are not provided to FHI without reason, consideration is given to whether APBs have committed an offence under the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007. The legal obligations regarding reporting guidance have been emphasised to the relevant APB.
The FHI is not aware of other incidents of non reporting of sea lice counts where sites have been incorrectly declared fallow while fish are still held on site. Scottish Government considers the provisions of the Fish Farming Businesses (Reporting) (Scotland) Order 2020 and published sea lice guidance appropriate for salmon farming operations.