The Scottish Parliament election taking place on 7 May could represent a “watershed moment” for Scottish salmon farming, according to TirMara Advisory Founder Anne Anderson.
Anderson, who is also the former chief officer of the regulatory portfolio at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), insisted the next government has a “must-seize opportunity” to address longstanding structural issues in Scotland’s aquaculture industry.
Scottish Parliament has long scrutinized the salmon-farming sector, including in a high-profile parliamentary inquiry in 2018 that highlighted concerns around fish welfare, environmental impacts, regulatory delays, and accountability.
Anderson said that while politicians from all parties have recognized how important the sector is to Scotland, particularly its rural communities, similar reviews that have taken place since 2018 show that the original areas of concern remain.
According to Anderson, who left her most recent role as head of sustainability and development with salmon-farming firm Scottish Sea Farms this February to launch specialist consultancy firm TirMara, the key issue in properly addressing those areas of concern has not been a lack of analysis but a failure to translate findings into meaningful change.
For instance, she said recent changes made to aquaculture regulations in Scotland, such as extending marine planning zones from 3 to 12 nautical miles, risk addressing spatial constraints without tackling underlying systematic inefficiencies. While the extension of marine planning zones widens the geography, without embracing new technologies and innovations that are available, the system itself remains unchanged and the longstanding issues are merely dragged farther out to sea, she said.
Therefore, the next administration should focus on delivering practical solutions rather than continuing incremental reform, she said.
What’s been missing from the extensive review and consultation processes over the past decade is “implementation built on genuinely shared ownership,” Anderson told SeafoodSource.
“Past approaches have been led largely from within the public sector, with priorities set early and consultation occurring late – often after options have already narrowed. This has created a recurring cycle of frustration and limited outcomes,” she said. “A new framework needs a fundamentally different start point: a clear, shared ambition for Scotland and explicit permission to think beyond existing remits and institutional boundaries.”
Central to a potential solution is the need for a more integrated, “fit-for-purpose” regulatory framework for aquaculture, Anderson said, explaining that this could potentially manifest in the form of a new, dedicated Aquaculture Bill.
At its core, an Aquaculture Bill would need to do three things: clarify accountability, integrate regulation, and shift the system from process‑driven control to outcome‑based performance, she said.
“That means setting clear responsibility for decisions and outcomes, aligning currently fragmented consenting and oversight into a coherent framework, and regulating against measurable environmental and welfare results rather than prescriptive rules designed for another era,” Anderson said. “Crucially, it should enable evidence‑led relocation, consolidation, or adaptation where this demonstrably improves fish welfare and environmental outcomes, all while increasing transparency so that performance, recovery, and improvement over time are visible and understood by communities and Parliament alike.”
Though political change is seen as a key enabler, she stressed that reform will also depend on greater alignment across stakeholders, regardless of an election, insisting that it’s time to “relinquish the old ways of doing and thinking” and to move forward in a manner that’s as “inclusive and respectful of all interests” and informed by robust science.
Commenting on what would need to change in the first 12 to 18 months of a new government for the industry to feel that this opportunity is being effectively realized, Anderson said a “credible early signal” would be the establishment of a dedicated, time‑limited project team, drawing on government officials and industry engaging to find workable solutions.
“Full public participation and community engagement would be essential while recognizing that progress requires focus on deliverable outcomes,” she said.
Given the sector’s economic and social importance, Anderson said this team could be jointly funded by government and industry, with project work reported transparently and a governance board set up to eliminate any “pay‑to‑play rhetoric.”
“Dual funding reflects both fiscal reality and the need to break with approaches that have so far failed to deliver resolution,” she said. “Securing a cross-party reinforcement of Scotland's shared commitment to deliver a regulatory framework which is forward-looking and enables sustainable aquaculture would also help. Given previous parliamentary attention, it would also help to ensure that a Project Governance Board has a balanced representation of economic, social, and environmental perspectives to keep focus on the shared goal."
