FOI/202100258228 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands fish farming and aquaculture meetings: EIR release
Information requested
“All documents relating to meetings with regards to fish farming/ aquaculture that Ms Gougeon has taken part in since her appointment to this position. This should include, face to face meetings as well as remote or telephone meetings.”
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request. Response to your request We are happy to enclose some documents relating to some engagements that fall within the scope of your request. These are outlined in the table below. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under regulations 10(4)(a) (information not held), 10(4)(d) (incomplete material), 10(4)(e) (internal communications) & 10(5)(f) (third party interests) of the EIRs apply to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter. Below is a table summarising meetings relating to aquaculture that the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands has taken part in since her appointment, as well as the release decision for associated documents identified in the course of searching for information relating to these meetings. The date range considered for this query was 20 May 2021 to 26 November 2021.
Number Date Participants Release Decision 1 10/06/2021 Salmon Scotland, formerly SSPO Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 2 15/06/2021 Marine Scotland Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 3 17/06/2021 Fisheries Management Scotland Regulation 10(4)(a) Information Not Held exception 4 13/07/2021 Colonsay Community Development Company, Colonsay Community Council and Mowi Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 5 14/07/2021 Shetland Fisherman's Association, North Atlantic Fisheries College Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 6 24/08/2021 Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 7 09/09/2021 British Trout Association Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 8 29/09/2021 Aquagen Partial release/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 9 13/10/2021 Gael Force Group Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 10 25/10/2021 Professor Russell Griggs Release 11 03/11/2021 Salmon Scotland, formerly SSPO Partial release/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 12 16/11/2021 Coastal Communities Network Regulation 10(4)(d) Incomplete materials/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 13 25/11/2021 Organic Sea Harvest Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception/ Regulation 10(5)(f) Third Party Interests exception
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Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. Number Date Participants Release Decision 1 10/06/2021 Salmon Scotland, formerly SSPO Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 2 15/06/2021 Marine Scotland Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 3 17/06/2021 Fisheries Management Scotland Regulation 10(4)(a) Information Not Held exception 4 13/07/2021 Colonsay Community Development Company, Colonsay Community Council and Mowi Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 5 14/07/2021 Shetland Fisherman's Association, North Atlantic Fisheries College Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 6 24/08/2021 Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 7 09/09/2021 British Trout Association Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 8 29/09/2021 Aquagen Partial release/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 9 13/10/2021 Gael Force Group Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 10 25/10/2021 Professor Russell Griggs Release 11 03/11/2021 Salmon Scotland, formerly SSPO Partial release/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 12 16/11/2021 Coastal Communities Network Regulation 10(4)(d) Incomplete materials/Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception 13 25/11/2021 Organic Sea Harvest Regulation 10(4)(e) Internal Communications exception/ Regulation 10(5)(f) Third Party Interests exception About FOI The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests.