Press Release

EXPERT PANEL MEET TO REVIEW FISH FARM RENTS

8 December 2005

An independent panel of experts is putting fish farm rents under the spotlight this week at the first meeting of a group brought together by The Crown Estate and aquaculture industry representatives.

The group, which includes former Marine Harvest Scotland boss David Windmill, Stephen Pollock, Head of Valuation at chartered surveyors James Barr and Alan Christie of Ernst and Young, aims to find a better way of charging fish and shellfish farmers in the UK.

As Frank Parrish, The Crown Estate’s Marine Estate Director explained: ‘Fish farming is an industry of great importance to the rural areas of Scotland and we are keen to make sure that our rents better reflect the needs of the modern day fish farmer. Aquaculture has changed significantly over the years and we hope the expert panel will find a simple and understandable method for charging.

‘We have worked with the industry to select an impressive group of people at the top of their field. Over the coming months they will be looking at past and current economics and prospects for the future in order to develop alternative charging systems. I am confident they will produce a solution which better meets modern needs.

Alan Balfour, of Loch Duart Ltd, commented: ‘The selection of this independent panel of experts is an encouraging start to this important process for the salmon farming industry. Given the challenges the industry faces, it is also reassuring that The Crown Estate is guaranteeing there will be no increase in rentals for individual farmers for three years, no matter what the outcome of the review.’

The Crown Estate owns the seabed out to the 12 nautical mile limit and charges fish and shellfish farmers who want to moor their cages, long lines or other equipment in the UK’s coastal waters, just as landowners charge farmers rent for the use of their fields.

But the current system for charging salmon farmers, based on future projections of production levels, is complex and hard-to-follow. So, with widespread industry support, earlier this year The Crown Estate initiated a review of the way it charges fish and shellfish farmers around the UK coastline.