Request:
1. Please confirm how many salmon farms leased from the Scottish Crown Estate or otherwise managed by Marine Scotland expire within 2 years of the date of this submission.
2. Please confirm how many salmon farms leased from the Scottish Crown Estate or otherwise managed by Marine Scotland have terminated (or moved location) in the 2 years preceding the date of this submission.
3. Please confirm how many of the sites in (2) have ceased to operate at the end of the term in that location.
4. Please confirm how many of the sites in (1) have given notice or are in discussion over ceasing to operate at the end of the term in that location.
5. Please list the salmon farm sites in (3) and (4) setting out whether operations have ceased already or whether the owners are in discussions over ceasing to operate in that location.
6. The leases of those fish farms should include a clause to reinstate (make good and remove contamination from) the seabed at the end of term. Please confirm how many of the sites comprising (3) have undertaken reinstatement works.
7. If no full reinstatement has taken place please confirm what other action has been taken to secure the performance of reinstatement obligations for the sites comprising (3).
8. Please confirm what reinstatement measures will be taken for the sites comprising (4).
9. Please confirm the number of salmon farms where there is a bond or other financial obligation to secure against pollution and please provide the value of those bonds or other financial security held for the benefit of Marine Scotland or the Scottish Crown Estate
Response:
1. 14 salmon farm leases expire between November 2019 and November 2021.
2. 7 salmon farm leases have had Notice to Quit (NtQ) issued and one salmon farm lease was renounced, between November 2019 and November 2017. Please note that terminated leases, whether terminated by us by way of Notice to Quit or renunciation by the tenant may have expired some time prior to the termination; therefore, this number does not include sites where the lease has expired but persists under tacit relocation.
3. When a salmon farm lease is issued with Notice to Quit or renounced it will then cease to operate from the termination or renunciation date; therefore, between November 2019 and November 2017, 8 salmon farm leases ceased to operate.
4. None
5. The following salmon farm leases have had Notice to Quit issued:
- RC5-71-3 - Loch Seaforth;
- IN3-97-2 - Loch Eport;
- RC1-20-4 - Little Loch Broom;
- IN2-85-2 - Acairseid;
- RC4-13-19 - Loch Roag;
- IN3-121-4 - Kerevagh;
- IN4-166-1 - Sound of Barra.
The following salmon farm leases were renounced:
SH-91-17 - Little Holm.
Please note that salmon farm leases are referenced by File Reference and not location. However on our website www.crownestatescotland.com and under Maps and Publications, you can download a zipped folder containing spatial data (shapefile) of current Aquaculture legal agreements. If the termination date has yet to have been reached (Notice to Quit set out a required period of notice prior to the termination date) then operations may persist. However, in this case the above referenced sites will have ceased operating.
6. There is a removal and restoration clause in the lease which requires all equipment to be removed and the subjects to be left in a good condition. There is no reference to removing ‘contamination’. All leases are issued subject to statutory consents that do not allow for any ‘contamination’ of the seabed. Any discharges from the farm are only those permitted by SEPA.
7. All Notice to Quit and renunciation sites (listed in question 5) require full removal of cultivation gear and equipment as required under the removal and restoration clause (refer to information provided for question 6).
8. There are no salmon leases qualifying under question 4 but all leases are subject to the removal and restoration clause referred to the information provided for question 6.
9. Crown Estate Scotland does not seek any such bond or obligation. Control of pollution from salmon farms is a matter for SEPA under their legislative remit and exercised through licensing of salmon farms under Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR). A CAR Licence forms part of the necessary consents required to have been secured for a salmon farm development before Crown Estate Scotland will grant a seabed lease
