Spatial planning on the agenda in Scotland salmon farming inquiry

Members of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (RAIC) will take evidence from stakeholders with expertise in consenting and marine spatial planning when an inquiry into salmon farming resumes next week following Holyrood’s summer recess.

Three witnesses are listed to answer questions from MSPs on Wednesday.

They include Mark Harvey, planning team leader for Highland Council. Planning officers at the council recently recommended approval of two salmon farms off the northeast coast of Skye, but the applications from Organic Sea Harvest were rejected by a majority vote of the Highland Council’s North Planning Applications Committee.

Ronan O’Hara, chief executive of marine sites landlord Crown Estate Scotland, is another witness, and the third is Dr Rachel Shucksmith, manager of the marine spatial planning section within the Marine Science and Technology department at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), Shetland.

Stakeholder engagement

The section undertakes applied research and consultancy projects relating or informing marine management and decision making and is also responsible for delivering the Shetland Islands Regional Marine Plan.

According to her UHI profile, Shucksmith is particularly interested in how different data types can be used as an evidence base to inform effective decision making, and how stakeholder engagement can improve data quality and acceptance.

Among other things, Shucksmith is co-chair of the MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) Marine Planning and Governance Forum, a centre for dialogue across the marine planning community.

Broad evidence base

The inquiry is a follow-up into the implementation of recommendations on salmon farming in Scotland set out by one of RAIC’s predecessors, the Rural Economy and Connectivity (REC) Committee, in 2018.

RAIC members have heard evidence from anti-salmon farming groups, academics and scientists from the aquaculture sector, the Fish Health Inspectorate, the Scottish Science Advisory Council, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and wild fisheries managers.

The committee is due to visit a salmon farm on September 22-23, and hear evidence from salmon farming industry representatives on October 2.

It completes the inquiry with evidence from the Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon on October 9.