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Policy Context
Fish Farming and the Economy
5. The fish farming industry makes an important contribution to Scotland's rural economy providing significant numbers of jobs, many of these in remote locations where alternative employment opportunities are scarce. Scottish Ministers wish to promote a sustainable fish farming industry and direct new and modified development to suitable locations.
6. The Scottish fish farming industry has three main components:
- Marine finfish farms, predominantly salmon but increasingly other species;
- Shellfish farms, producing a range of marine mollusc species; and
- Freshwater farms, producing trout or salmon smolts for on-growing in seawater.
7. Marine finfish farming takes place in the inshore waters of the west coast and the Western and Northern Isles, where the most favourable operational conditions for marine aquaculture are to be found. Marine fish farms are usually made up of a number of net pens arranged around a framework of walkways and flotation collars and moored to the seabed.
8. Concentrating on species such as mussels, oysters and scallops, shellfish farming shows a wider distribution to marine fish farms. Mussels are generally grown on weighted ropes suspended from buoyed lines or rafts. Scallops can be ongrown in nets suspended from lines or rafts or on the seabed with the area concerned designated by buoys. Oysters may be cultivated either on trestles placed below the low water mark or in net bags suspended from ropes.
9. Production from freshwater fish farming is dominated by rainbow trout produced either for the table trade or re-stocking sports fisheries; and salmon smolts for transfer to marine production sites. Usually these are farmed using ponds, raceways or tanks although smolt production can be in cages established in some of the larger freshwater lochs.
10. The fish farming industry has experienced several periods of business consolidation resulting in fewer but larger operators. For both finfish and shellfish, farms have tended to become larger year on year, reflecting increasing maturity and efficiencies within the sector. Bearing in mind the concept of overall carrying capacity for both fin and shell fish farms in Scotland, it is anticipated that the industry will be increasingly typified by larger but fewer farms. The aim is to promote sustainable development in the most suitable locations.
Policy Background
11. Scottish Ministers support for fish farming is set out in A Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquaculture. It puts forward a vision for growing the fish farming industry, delivering a quality product to consumers at home and abroad, and social and economic benefits to communities, particularly in rural and remote areas. It includes a commitment to produce guidance. Scottish Ministers are also committed to the development of A Strategic Framework for Scottish Freshwater Fisheries. This framework will set out the vision for and provide the necessary actions, agreed with stakeholders, to deliver a sustainable freshwater fisheries sector. It will be particularly relevant with respect to the interrelationships between the marine and freshwater finfish industry and the freshwater fisheries sector.
12. Scotland's Sustainable Development Strategy sets out the national and international context that drives the Scottish Executive's sustainable development agenda. In addition, the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 introduces a new duty that requires that functions relating to development planning should be exercisable with the objective of contributing to sustainable development. Scottish Ministers are committed to promoting the sustainable development of fish farming.
13. A Partnership for a Better Scotland confirms that the top priority of the Scottish Executive is to grow Scotland's economy. It sets out how this priority should be delivered through sustainable economic development. Scottish Ministers believe that a thriving fish farming industry in Scotland has the potential to develop new indigenous industries, particularly in rural area; to provide significant export opportunities and to enhance Scotland's economy. The planning system has a key role in supporting Scotland's economic competitiveness and employment market. The scope for developments to contribute to national and local economic development priorities should be a material consideration when considering policies and decisions.
14. Seas the Opportunity set out Scottish Ministers' strategy for the long terms sustainability of Scotland's coasts and seas. Further consideration is being given to potential legislation and structures for a marine and coastal strategy. This SPP does not preclude marine fish farming from being taken into consideration as the work on such a strategy is taken forward.
15. Scottish Ministers expect the planning system to play an important role in supporting the delivery of development that is sustainable. Planning authorities can draw on existing national guidance and advice. SPP 1: The Planning System, for example, sets out the purpose of the planning system and puts it in the context of the wider objectives of the Scottish Executive identifying the five priorities of sustainable development: economic competitiveness; social justice; environmental quality; design; and integrated transport. Policies in other SPPs, for example SPP 15: Rural Development and in NPPGs, such as NPPG 13: Coastal Planning and NPPG 14: Natural Heritage emphasise the importance of promoting and guiding new development to suitable locations. The contribution that fish farming makes to the rural economy is acknowledged as is the need to balance economic and environmental factors. Policy guidance in these and other SPPs/ NPPGs is therefore relevant to fish farming developments and should be taken into account by planning authorities in preparing their development plans and in considering applications for planning permission as well as by developers and others with an interest in the industry.
16. Planning authorities have been contributing to the development of the fish farming industry. Pending transfer of responsibility for the authorisation of marine fish farming from the Crown Estate to local authorities, the Scottish Executive introduced a non-statutory interim scheme from December 1998 enhancing the role of planning authorities in the authorisation of marine fish farming developments. Within Orkney and Shetland, licences were issued by the respective Councils under the Zetland and Orkney County Council Acts. Locational guidance and an advice note were issued by the Scottish Executive, most recently revised in January 2003, to establish a national context for guiding the location of future marine fish farms and to indicate the factors to be taken into account when considering Crown Estate consultations on development consents for fish farms. The offshore elements of fish farming have, however, previously lain outwith the statutory planning system that regulates development on land.
17. The Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 provided the definition of development for marine fish farming and the necessary enabling and other provisions to bring marine fish farming into the planning system. Some of these provisions were amended by the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and further provisions were included to enable a workable and robust system to be introduced. The Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Order 2007 which came into force on 1 April 2007, brings marine fish farming into the planning system. This Order also designates the marine planning zones and the planning authorities (including the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority) which are to be the planning authorities for the purposes of marine fish farming within a particular marine planning zone. It should be noted that marine planning zones and the relevant planning authorities which have responsibility for marine fish farming purposes within these zones have only been designated up to 3 nautical miles. Ministers will consult on the boundaries between the 3 and 12 nautical mile limit in due course.
18. Other forms of development in the marine environment remain outwith the planning system. Different statutory control regimes apply to developments such as offshore renewable energy and telecommunications developments. It is not the intention for the planning system to duplicate other control regimes relating to fish farming such as the controlled activities regulation licences from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency ( SEPA) or fish health, sea lice, and containment regulations by the Fisheries Research Service ( FRS).
19. This SPP draws on, and incorporates, the earlier SEERAD guidance and advice - the Locational Guidance for the Authorisation of Marine Fish Farms in Scottish Waters and Marine Fish Farming and the Environment.
20. No specific planning guidance has previously been prepared for freshwater fish farming. While the main focus of this SPP is on marine farms coming into the planning system for the first time, the guidance is applicable to freshwater as well as marine fish farming given that broadly similar issues such as siting and impact arise. When available, A Strategic Framework for Scottish Freshwater Fisheries should be taken into account by planning authorities.
Role of Planning
21. Within the Scottish Executive's vision of a sustainable, diverse, competitive and economically viable fish farming industry, the planning system's role is to enable and help to create opportunities for development in sustainable locations, by seeking to reconcile the needs of the fish farming industry, communities and sectors it helps to support, with concerns for the environment and those interests that may be affected by development. By providing a context for development, the planning system can assist with promoting fish farming development by engaging with communities and safeguarding environmental interests.
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