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CHIEF executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, Scott Landsburgh, says it is “disappointing” that a number of fish farms have performed poorly in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s latest Compliance Assessment Scheme.
The scheme details how well permitted operators in Scotland have met the conditions of their licences. It covers operators with Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Part A permits, and for the first time includes all operators with PPC Part B permits and covers Waste Management Licensing and Point sources for Controlled Activity Regulations. Part A sites are regulated for emissions to air, water, land, and noise and energy use. Part B sites include smaller industrial processes such as quarries, cement batching units or small foundries. Part B sites are regulated for emissions to air only.
Figures for 2010 show that more than 85 per cent of operators across various regulatory regimes have achieved a licence compliance rating of excellent, good or broadly compliant.
Following last year’s figures, Sepa officers made non-compliant sites a priority, leading to an increase in the number of PPC Part A sites achieving a rating of excellent, good or broadly compliant, up 3.5 per cent from 83.4 per cent in 2009 to 86.9 per cent in 2010. Of the 4,075 operators included in this year’s scheme, 2,951 (72 per cent) were rated excellent, 476 (12 per cent) as good and 51 (1 per cent) as broadly compliant. The remaining were classed at risk (354 or 9 per cent), poor (200 or 5 per cent) and very poor (43 or 1 per cent). The information is available online at www.sepa.org.uk/compliance
Landsburgh said: “Naturally we are pleased that over 80 per cent of salmon farms have performed well, but it is disappointing that a number have been below the high standard we expect. It is frustrating that some administrative matters such as submitting reports late have adversely affected the results, but we continue to strive for the highest possible standards throughout the industry and expect action to improve performance.”
Calum MacDonald, Sepa’s director of operations, said: “The Compliance Assessment Scheme results are important to us, as they identify where resource needs to be focussed to help companies achieve a satisfactory level of environmental protection. The fact that we have increased compliance amongst PPC Part A operators this year shows that this approach is working.
“This assessment tool is part of Sepa’s better regulation agenda, which has identified that improvements to our approach in assessing compliance with licences, permits and authorisations will lead to more effective, transparent and efficient regulation.
“Although Sepa is committed to helping operators to meet their environmental responsibilities, we will not shy away from taking appropriate enforcement action in relation to sites which consistently fail to meet our standards.”
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