Aquaculture map

Active aquaculture sites are locations where aquaculture (fish or shellfish farming) is currently taking place. These are the working fish farms and shellfish farms around Scotland’s coast and inland waters.

At active sites, farmers are raising species like salmon, trout, oysters, or mussels for food. These active farms are important for the economy – they provide jobs in rural communities and produce seafood that is sold in the UK and beyond.

Each active site is usually made up of facilities such as sea pens, tanks, or shellfish rafts that you might see in lochs or along the shore.

Inactive aquaculture sites are places that were used for fish or shellfish farming in the past but are not in operation at the moment. An aquaculture site can become inactive for various reasons.

In some cases a farm might close down or relocate, and in other cases a site might be temporarily fallow (not used for a period of time) to let the environment recover or to break the cycle of disease and parasites. Even though these sites aren’t producing fish or shellfish currently, they remain part of the aquaculture landscape of Scotland.

Some inactive sites might be restarted in the future if conditions allow, or they might stay inactive permanently if, for example, the business has ceased or moved elsewhere.

A person who carries on a business of fish farming (other than in freshwater sites) must demonstrate satisfactory measures are in place for the prevention, control and reduction of sea lice on farm sites, Aquaculture Production Businesses (APB) are required to report the weekly average adult female sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) numbers per fish on farm sites to Scottish Ministers no later than 8 days after the end of the reporting week. This data is labelled 'Wk Av AF' in the map attribute box and as 'WEEKLY_AVERAGE_AF' in the table.

You can download historic sea lice data (excluding current year) and current sealice data.

The following limitations must be considered in relation to the published information:

1. Only data that has been submitted under the Fish Farming Businesses (Reporting) (Scotland) Order 2020 from 29 March 2021 is available via the sea lice data portal. Previously published data is available on the Scottish Government website.
2. The information presented is not a comprehensive record of weekly sea lice data but the details of the weekly average adult female sea lice levels per fish as reported by industry or where information has been obtained through Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) surveillance.
3. The weekly average (mean) adult female sea lice number is calculated by dividing the total number of adult female (gravid and non-gravid) Lepeophtheirus salmonis counted on sampled fish divided by the number of fish sampled in that reporting week.
4. Due to technical limitations, data from sites registered since 22 December 2020 cannot currently be published via the sea lice data portal.
5. The information relates to live reporting regime and therefore may be subject to change at any point. If errors in data are identified these may be corrected. Changes may not be easily recognisable between published versions and may be "historical". The information is only an accurate record at the point in which information extraction occurred.
6. This site does not include historical sea lice data from sites that change their status from active or inactive to deregistered after the 29 March 2021.
7. Where information refers to treatment activity obtained through increased monitoring, this can reflect both actual and planned treatments. In relation to planned treatments these may or may not have taken place.
8. With regard to the map, an active site is an aquaculture site that has either actively produced fish or shellfish within the last 3 years or which is fallow as a part of a planned production cycle. An inactive site is an aquaculture site that will not be in operation for the foreseeable future and/or has not been producing within the last 3 years. This status may be changed by the owner or operator, subject to authorisation being granted by Marine Directorate. Please note production information is extracted from the annual production surveys and is only updated following publication of the surveys on an annual basis therefore it does not reflect the current three year period.

CAR permitted fish farms are fish farming sites that have a permit under the Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) in Scotland.

In simpler terms, these are fish farms (mostly farms for salmon or trout) that have official permission to operate because they meet specific environmental standards. CAR permits are managed by SEPA and are designed to control activities that might affect Scotland’s water environments. For a fish farm, a CAR permit typically governs things like the discharge of water, fish waste, or chemicals.

Shellfish water protected areas are parts of Scotland’s coastal waters that have been specially designated to help protect shellfish like mussels, oysters, cockles, and scallops.

These areas are important because they support shellfish harvesting and aquaculture, which many local communities and businesses rely on. Essentially, a shellfish water protected area is an area of sea where the water quality is managed to benefit shellfish growth.

Good water quality is crucial for shellfish to thrive and to be safe for people to eat, so these areas are recognised in law and policy to ensure extra care is taken there.

Marine Directorate management areas are specific marine zones defined by the Marine Directorate to help manage fish farm operations and prevent the spread of fish diseases.

These are sometimes also called “disease management areas.” The idea is that fish farms which are close enough to potentially spread illnesses to one another (due to water currents or proximity) are grouped into the same management area.

This system was established after past experiences with fish diseases (such as infectious salmon anaemia in the early 2000s) to ensure that if a serious disease outbreak occurs at a farm, the response can be quick and contained within a known area. Within a single management area, farms are encouraged to coordinate things like fallowing periods (when farms are emptied and left idle for a while) and stocking schedules, so that disease risks are minimised.

If a notifiable disease is detected on one farm, the Marine Directorate can place controls on the whole area (like movement restrictions or extra inspections) to stop it from spreading to farms in other areas.

Active Crown Estate Scotland lease areas are areas of the seabed (and sometimes foreshore) that are currently leased out for aquaculture by Crown Estate Scotland.

In Scotland, the Crown Estate owns most of the seabed up to 12 nautical miles offshore. Anyone who wants to set up a marine fish farm or a shellfish farm in those waters needs to have a lease agreement with Crown Estate Scotland.

These leases give companies the right to use a defined area of the sea or seabed for aquaculture activities (such as anchoring fish cages or laying down shellfish cultivation gear). An “active” lease area means that the lease is currently in force – usually corresponding to a site where farming is actively happening, or at least where the tenant has the rights to farm at present.

Local authorities in this context refers to the council areas in Scotland which are the divisions of local government (like Highland Council, Argyll and Bute Council, Shetland Islands Council, and so on).

These authorities are responsible for a range of local services and planning decisions. When it comes to aquaculture, local authorities play a key role because they are typically in charge of granting planning permission for fish farm developments in their area (for marine fish farms within coastal waters, as well as any on-land aquaculture facilities).

Each fish farm site in Scotland falls under the jurisdiction of one of these councils, depending on where it is located on the map.

Locational guideline areas are categories assigned to Scotland’s sea lochs and coastal waters that indicate the capacity for further aquaculture development in each area.

These guidelines were developed by the Marine Directorate as a planning tool to aid in deciding where new fish farms could be established.

Essentially, scientists model each loch or bay to predict how much fish farming it can support without harming the environment. They look at factors like how fish farm nutrients (such as excess feed or waste) might build up in the water and on the seabed (benthic impact), and how tides and currents disperse these materials. Based on these studies, each area is given a category (often category 1, 2, or 3 in Scotland’s system).

• A category 1 area is very likely to be at its limit for fish farming – meaning adding new farms or expanding existing ones there could risk environmental harm. So, new development in category 1 areas would only be allowed in exceptional circumstances.
• A category 2 area has some capacity left; you could possibly add or expand farms, but only to a point that doesn’t push the area into category 1 (in other words, it can take a bit more development without serious issues, but it needs caution).
• A category 3 area appears to have the most capacity for new or bigger farms – these are places where the water exchange and environmental conditions suggest aquaculture could be increased sustainably, though, of course, detailed studies are still needed for any specific proposal.

To zoom directly to your desired location, type the place of interest, postcode, grid reference, town or feature (such as Loch Leven) into the search box at the top right hand corner of the map or you can also select 'use current location'.

Use the dropdown arrow at the left-hand side of the search box to filter the search results. If multiple options are returned, select the correct location from the dropdown menu.

Press the cross (x) on the right-hand side to start a new search.

The navigation buttons are located on the top left-hand corner of the map and consist of 6 individual buttons:

1. Zoom in and out on the map using the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons, double clicking the mouse anywhere on the map will zoom in and pressing CTRL + double clicking the mouse to zoom out or you can also use the mouse scroll to zoom in and out.
2. The double chevron left button (<<) allows you to hide the layer list box. This is shown by default when first loading the map.
3. The double chevron right button (>>) shows the transparency slider which allows you to change the transparency of the data layers shown on the map.
4. The house button allows you to return to the default map view.
5. The circle button with the up arrow allows you to rest the map orientation.

The legend information for each layer is displayed when you select the eye icon to display the data on the map and then by selecting the list icon.

Click on any of the data points shown on the map to obtain basic information. Results display a direct link to the relevant data webpage for further details. There are three icons displayed at the top right-hand side of the information box:

1. Dock - You can dock the information box to the right-hand side of the map by selecting the first icon, by selecting this again will undock the box to display back by the data point on the map.
2. Collapse - You can minimise the information box, by selecting it again to expand it.
3. Close - Closes the information box.

Add in layers by clicking the eye icon on the right-hand side of the relevant chapter headings and sub-headings. Deselect to remove a visible layer.

Some of the layers have thousands of features that are difficult to view at small scales, such as the Scotland-wide extent. The layer will display when zoomed in to a suitable scale, usually at thresholds such as 1:500000, 1:250000 or 1:100000.