SEPA seeks new way to monitor fish farm impacts in sensitive areas
Environment watchdog is offering up to £650,000 in funding for development of non-grab method
The Scottish Government is offering up to £650,000 to fund the development of an innovative way to assess the impacts of salmon farms on the ecological communities of rocky seabeds and protected marine habitats where it is neither possible nor appropriate to take a grab sample.
The money is being made available by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) through a “challenge” from CivTech, a government-run accelerator for digital public services.
It is one of eight challenges set as part of the £5.5 million CivTech Scotland Round 11 Accelerator.
The solution sought by SEPA must offer a non-invasive and preferably quantitative method to monitor ecological effects. It should be scientifically robust and demonstrate its ability to detect whether fish farm operations remain within environmental limits, supporting sustainable aquaculture practices and the protection of sensitive marine ecosystems.
15-week accelerator
CivTech was launched in 2016 to inject innovation into how the public sector uses technology to improve the lives of Scotland’s citizens. At the heart of the programme is the Innovation Flow, which centres around an intense 15-week accelerator. Innovative and ambitious teams or individuals, selected through an open and straightforward process, are paid to build working prototypes - and receive world-class business growth support.
At the end of the period they are expected to have a minimum viable product, with enough features to validate the idea.
Scottish Government business minister Richard Lochhead said: “Now in its tenth year, CivTech has had a hugely positive impact on public sector services and beyond, with solutions ranging from a digital communication roll-out that could save the taxpayer £100 million a year, to products and services improving lives and prospects across healthcare, education and key front-line services.
“Success rates for the companies and products developed are very high with some 80% of the products created through the programme in use, far surpassing the average private sector accelerator rates.”
Dr Marion Harrald, senior specialist scientist in marine ecology at SEPA, is part of the agency’s marine ecology unit that asseses applications for new farms and expansions to existing sites.
In a video on CivTech’s website, Harrald says: “We really need a practical method that both the fish farm operators and SEPA can use to assess whether these marine habitats are being impacted and to confirm that fish farms are operating sustainably.
“We need it to be robust enough to stand up in court if challenged, and we also need it to be affordable for both us and the fish farm operators to use. We’ll know that this challenge has been solved when we have a solution that means we can really be confident that we can allow a fish farm to develop without impacting the sensitive marine habitats around about it.
For SEPA and farmers
“We see this tool that is being created with this challenge as being definitely useful for the science teams within SEPA and for permitting and we also see it being useful for the fish farm operators who want to demonstrate environmental compliance, and their consultancies who might work for them on their behalf. We hope it might also be useful to fish farms that operate in other countries such as Ireland and Norway, and the States and Canada.
“So, we’re really excited about being part of this CivTech process because we see it as an opportunity to bring people together from a whole host of different professions and to bring a whole lot of different skill sets to address this really complex issue.”
More information about the challenge can be found here.
