Scotland already has the evidence: now it must choose how to act

Ahead of this week's Scottish Parliament election, Fish Farming Expert published a series of articles by former Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) official and aquaculture sector executive Anne Anderson that examined the relationship between politics, regulation, and salmon farming. Following Thursday's vote, she considers what must happen next if Scotland is to make progress in aquaculture and other areas such as wild salmon management and rural land use. Recognising the limitations that others work under is a good place to start, she argues.

With the election over, Scottish aquaculture enters a phase where the real constraint isn’t knowledge, it’s nerve. Years of scientific monitoring and regulatory review have produced a mature evidence base on fish health, environmental interaction, and site performance. The question facing the next government, its agencies, and regulated sectors is not what the science says, but whether institutions are willing to act on it with confidence and consistency. The challenge is no longer analysis but designing regulation for outcomes rather than endurance.

The result confirms something that had already become quietly clear. On environment, nature, and rural development, Scotland isn’t debating direction so much as legitimacy. Who decides, on what basis, and with what capacity to deliver?

The SNP will return as the largest party, but without a majority. That matters less for ambition than for execution. The Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 has fixed the structural agenda: statutory biodiversity targets, planning duties for enhancement, and environmental responsibility embedded in law define the operating framework for this Parliament . No serious political actor is proposing to dismantle that framework. The direction of travel is set.

What has changed is the political context within which that framework must now function. A fragmented Parliament, a widened opposition bench, and a stronger undercurrent of scepticism toward expert‑led decision making narrow the space for delay, opacity, or risk avoidance. Delivery, not intention, will determine political credibility.

A process-heavy system 

What remains, then, is political choice. But that choice is constrained not only by parliamentary arithmetic or contested evidence. It is also shaped by the limits of public sector capacity,  by accumulated institutional process, and by the behaviours of the sectors being governed.

Across aquaculture, wild salmon management, and rural land use, Scotland has decades of monitoring, peer reviewed science, and regulatory evaluation. Yet evidence-led outcomes too often fail to follow. This is not simply the result of ideology or activism. It reflects a public sector landscape that has evolved into an expensive, fragmented, and process-heavy system, particularly in regulatory domains, coupled with patterns of state/sector engagement that default too easily to adversarial positions rather than shared problem solving .

Parliament has struggled to confront this openly. But so too have the agencies charged with delivery. Regulators operate in high-scrutiny environments shaped by overlapping remits, accumulated processes, and constant challenge from multiple directions. In such conditions, delay, additional assurance, and perpetual review become rational institutional responses. Inertia is not failure of intent; it is a predictable system effect.

That tension now defines the next phase of environmental governance. Other parties recognise it, even where instincts diverge. The Greens will seek assurance that reform does not mask retreat. Labour will probe whether delivery failings are being obscured by endless reviews. Conservatives will argue that regulatory drag reflects ideology as much as necessity. Liberal Democrats will press for transparency in how evidence is weighed against advocacy. Reform UK will frame the issue more bluntly, as a rejection of technocratic insulation and regulation perceived to lack public consent. That framing is unlikely to shape detailed policy design, but it will harden the political environment in which regulatory decisions are made, particularly in communities most exposed to land- and marine‑based regulation.

Aquaculture must also adapt

Aquaculture sits at the centre of that test. The sector is economically vital to coastal and island communities and faces rising environmental expectations. But it too must adapt. Engagement has too often oscillated between defensive posture and technical argument, rather than proactive system leadership. In a political environment where legitimacy matters as much as data, evidence alone is insufficient unless embedded in transparent, collaborative relationships that recognise public concern as well as regulatory reality.

Any sector seeking reform must demonstrate regulatory maturity. That means engaging earlier, acknowledging uncertainty, and being open about trade‑offs. It means framing innovation in terms of shared outcomes - ecosystem resilience, fish welfare, and community benefit - rather than competitiveness alone. It also requires recognising the legal, risk, and confidence constraints under which ministers and regulators operate, and helping navigate those constraints rather than assuming bad faith or political obstruction.

The same logic applies beyond aquaculture. Wild salmon recovery, nature restoration, and rural development all depend on durable regulatory consent. In a Parliament defined by fragmentation and heightened scrutiny, authority alone will not carry complex land and marine transitions. Regulation without purpose will stall; evidence without trust will fracture.

Minority government

The defining questions of the next Parliament are therefore practical rather than rhetorical and they sit squarely within the realities of minority government. Delivery will depend less on single‑party authority and more on the ability to build confidence across party lines. Will agencies be held to account not only for compliance but for proportionality and outcomes? Will ministers be willing - and institutionally supported - to confront accumulated process overload and enable confident, evidence‑led decision making? And can cross‑party agreement be forged around shared expectations of regulatory performance, even where political narratives diverge?

In that context, public sector reform, regulatory confidence, and sectoral responsibility are not separate agendas. They are mutually reinforcing and increasingly interdependent. A fragmented Parliament heightens the need for clarity of purpose, transparency in how evidence is applied, and openness to collaborative solutions that can command support beyond a single party. Where reforms are visibly rooted in evidence, fairness, and delivery, they are more likely to secure durable parliamentary backing and withstand political change.

The structure is in place. The science is clear. The defining question now is whether Scotland’s institutions, political leadership, and regulated sectors can align around a shared commitment to delivery - working together across party lines and organisational boundaries to translate ambition into outcomes. In a minority Parliament, progress will come not from unanimity of belief, but from sufficient agreement on what works, what is proportionate, and what must now be done. That choice, more than the election itself, will determine what this Parliament delivers for Scotland’s environment, its communities, and its aquaculture sector, on land and at sea alike.