FOI/202500471001 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Wild Wrasse Fishery licence conditions: EIR release
Information requested
“Copies of the licence derogations and any associated paperwork setting out the management measures in place (including but not restricted to illustrative charts and coordinates of the fishing areas and areas where fishing is being prohibited) issued to the master of each vessel licenced to fish in the wild wrasse fishery, 2025.”
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
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. Please find enclosed copies of the three variants to the derogations that have been issued to fishers. The first of these outlines the general derogation. The second and third include an Annex C that gives specific information relating to either the Fetlar to Haroldwick MPA (one derogation issued) or the Wyre and Rousay Sounds MPA (five derogations issued). Although a number of derogations were issued, the text did not differ beyond the differences found between these three documents. This is because any variation was stipulated in the covering email. We have interpreted the request as being an interest in the actual wording of the derogation and thus shared this, as we consider this more helpful to the requester than numerous repeated copies of the same text. In addition we enclose all 54 covering emails which provide relevant supplementary information relating to the derogations.
Regulation 10(4)(d) – applicant has asked for unfinished or incomplete information
An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is material which is still in the course of completion. This includes two maps for the Fetlar to Haroldwick MPA and the Wyre and Rousay Sounds MPA. These are similar to those included within Annex C of the relevant derogations, but are in the process of being updated to improve their clarity and accessibility ahead of publication on the Scottish Government website. It also includes two documents outlining the coordinates of areas where fishing is authorised for those with appropriate derogations within the MPA. These are still being checked to ensure the points are correct following amendments to the maps.
This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this will be met by our intention to publish this information by the end of August. However, the public interest in immediate release is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished information which is still in being worked on and may hold inaccuracies is not disclosed when it might misinform the public.
Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception related to personal information within covering emails and is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
Additional information provided out with the EIRs
Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you that it is our intention to publish further information relating to the wrasse fishery on Scottish Government web pages. This information will include the derogation text as well as the maps and coordinates when available in a more accessible format. We expect this information to be available online by the end of August and will send you a link when it is available.
About FOI
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. Regulation 10(4)(d) – applicant has asked for unfinished or incomplete information An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is material which is still in the course of completion.