Chamber and committees

Strong views on both sides?

The committee heard concerns that SEPA’s new sea lice framework is not precautionary, in part because it is not applied to existing farms. You have already explained that you are beginning to roll that framework out.

SEPA is taking an approach of “no deterioration”, which could bake in sea lice levels that are a risk to wild salmon populations. Will you explain what you mean by “no deterioration”?

What is the timeframe for the move from stand-still?

Can I just clarify a point? Will that be the approach for every site or just those within the eight wild salmon protection zones?

Good morning to the witnesses—I thank you for joining us.

The SSAC’s report highlights the need for “horizon scanning syntheses”, particularly in relation to climate change. As you said, the IPCC is doing some great work in that area. Obviously, climate change is here, so the horizon is not very far away. I would be interested, therefore, in getting a sense of how you think that science and scientists can help stakeholders to embrace the urgency that is needed.

Certainly, on the west coast of Scotland, we are seeing warming waters. We know that, although salmon can cope with warm water, it means that the pathogens on the fish increase. That is already happening, and we are seeing a high level of mortality.

I am hearing from some stakeholders that it is not enough just to review literature from other countries and that we need things such as spatial planning and guidance for local planning authorities. How can science help us to move with that sense of urgency?

But what is being done to monitor those?

Okay. If you start to understand that there are problems in a situation, how do you manage the chemical impact?

You mentioned that the data will be presented in a different way. I want to get an understanding of what that means. At the moment, SEPA publishes data on mortality by weight, but we have been hearing that we really need a key performance indicator on the number of deaths. Will you be presenting such data in future?

Whose responsibility would it sit within to publish data on numbers rather than on weight?

It is interesting, because we have been talking about cleaner fish. I think that, somewhere down the line, we might start to realise that a lot of the dead biomass on our sea bed will have an environmental impact. We may need to start looking at that.