Message from the Minister
Team Scotland approach needed for trout and salmon producers
SCOTLAND’S Rural Economy Minister promised the trout sector that he would intervene to accelerate fish farmers’ licence applications. The current licensing system is a blockage to expansion that needs to be tackled head on, said Fergus Ewing, addressing the British Trout Association’s annual conference, held over two days in Stirling last month.
The minister expressed his frustration over what he called a ‘major problem’, and promised to lever his authority to try to achieve a solution.
In answer to a question from Alastair Salvesen, owner of Dawnfresh, the UK’s biggest trout farmer, Ewing said the issue had been raised often by salmon farmers.
Salvesen, whose company announced a £16 million plan earlier this year to double its production, complained at the slow pace of progress obtaining consents.
‘We have been having quite a lot of problems getting new permissions… there are delays and delays and delays,’ he said.
Even having got over all the hurdles and proved that a site is capable of accommodating a farm, Salvesen said they are then ‘kicked back by your colleagues, turning round and saying the precautionary principle applies’.
Ewing acknowledged that trout and salmon farming were distinct sectors, and had specific challenges, but said the industry in general needed a ‘team Scotland approach’.
‘If we are to see the expansion of the sector, we need to see consents being issued, and being issued with reasonable speed,’ he said.
‘I think, for example, the CAR [Controlled Activities Regulations] licence
requires Sepa [Scottish Environment Protection Agency] to respond within a number of weeks.
‘You already have to satisfy pretty stringent rules in order to get consents, and that’s right and proper.
‘But I am concerned that things are taking too long and I don’t think that’s something we can be at all proud of.
‘I believe we need to take a team Scotland approach…we have to listen very carefully to what businesses are saying, we have to meet with you and find out about individual cases, because every case is different.’
Leading aquaculture equipment supplier Stewart Graham, of Gael Force, and most of the salmon bosses have already raised these issues, said Ewing, but they remain unresolved.
Graham, who co-chairs the Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group, has argued in the past that there should be a one-stop shop, with a single body in charge of licences.
‘There are also arguments that the Norwegian system of charging for licences may be something worth exploring,’ said Ewing.
‘And they have a discount on the fees for innovation sites which encourages innovation and R&D, it encourages the trying out of new techniques and trials.’
The minister said he would have a meeting with Dawnfresh to discuss the ‘very serious issue’ highlighted.
The company’s proposals include four offshore sites across Argyll and Bute and North Ayrshire that could increase its production by 14,000 tonnes, and involve 36 permanent new jobs.
Ewing said: ‘I think we have to get on and tackle this quickly, it’s an issue that has been raised quite a lot.
‘We have to get a resolution, not a blame game, but a resolution so we can go ahead with a faster, swifter system.’
It can be done, he added, but companies needed to bring their problems directly to him.
‘If I don’t hear about the problems, I don’t have the ability to lever the solutions, put it that way, require people to find the solutions, rather than choose to kick the can down the road.’
Ewing also talked about the increasing demand for fish and shellfish from Scotland. And he highlighted ongoing negotiations over China.
This, he said, is an important market and his officials were working with Defra on a China trout protocol.
He revealed that he had received a positive response from Theresa Villiers, the UK Environment Secretary, and he hoped to now move swiftly on agreeing a deal.
‘If Scotland can break into these markets, then the only constraint on growth would be the capacity to grow the production, get the consents and get over the hurdles to set up new operations.
‘I see no reason whatsoever why we cannot overcome these home-grown hurdles. I’m absolutely convinced that the vast majority of people in Scotland support what you do.
‘We have enormous opportunity in trout and salmon in Scotland…we have to supply more high quality protein to feed the world, and we have to do it to high standards.’
“I see no reason whatsoever why we cannot overcome these hurdles” home-grown