Question reference: S6W-05701
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 14 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 January 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting SEPA in response to the data breach in 2020, and when information that is vital for assessing fish farm applications will be made publicly available.
Answer
Scottish Government officials continue to hold frequent meetings with SEPA to support the organisations recovery measures following the cyber-attack in December 2020.
All applications made to SEPA for authorisation under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations for new marine finfish farms or significant changes to existing farms are subject to public consultation. Information about these applications is made publicly available on SEPA’s consultation hub: https://consultation.sepa.org.uk/permits/car-regulations-aquaculture-applications/
Additionally, as part of its pre-application process for marine finfish farm developments ( https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/water/aquaculture/pre-application/ ), SEPA produces screening modelling and risk identification reports. These reports are published on SEPA’s website (the first posted 6 September 2021) ( https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/water/aquaculture/screening-modelling-and-risk-identification-report/ ) to inform pre-application consultations with interested parties as well as the later consultation on any application. The reports
A small subset of the information submitted to SEPA by applicants (ie large raw data sets, such as visual imagery footage of the seabed) is not available via SEPA’s website because of the large data file sizes involved. This information is provided by other means to the public on request.
Information relating to assessing fish farms was unavailable for the majority of 2020, however was restored on 6 September 2021.