EIR/202600510584 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Documents relating to discussions with Norway on sea lice management in salmon farming: EIR release
Information requested
In the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee meeting of 11 March 2026, officials referred to discussions involving Norway relating to sea lice management in salmon farming.
Please provide:
1. Copies of correspondence, briefing notes, minutes, reports, or emails relating to discussions between the Scottish Government (including the Marine Directorate or Marine Scotland) and Norwegian authorities or organisations regarding sea lice management in salmon farming.
2. Any records of meetings, calls, workshops, or visits involving Norwegian regulators, government officials, or industry bodies where sea lice regulation or management was discussed.
3. Any internal Scottish Government briefings or analysis prepared regarding Norway’s sea lice regulatory system, including comparisons with Scottish regulation.
Please include material from 1 January 2023 to the present date.
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.
I have included copies of the information you have requested in the attached Annex (B).
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in the attached Annex (A).
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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
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.