Back to Water

  • Shellfish waters

Shellfish waters

Table of contents
Select a section to jump to:
Select a section to jump to:

Shellfish water protected areas

Shellfish Water Protected Areas (SWPAs) are designated by Scottish Government to protect and promote significant shellfish production (primarily oysters and mussels).

It is SEPA’s responsibility to classify these protected areas and put in place measures where necessary through the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). 

You can view:

Shellfish harvesting areas

Shellfish harvesting areas are areas producing shellfish and classified by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). FSS Classification is carried out to determine the level of treatment required before shellfish are sold for human consumption.

Harvesting areas can be located within Shellfish Water Protected Areas, but this is not always the case.  

Visit Food Standards Scotland for information on how FSS monitor and classify shellfish harvesting areas.

Making improvements through RBMP

Where harvesting areas are located within Shellfish Water Protected Areas, SEPA use the data provided by FSS to classify the wider shellfish water protected areas.

This allows SEPA to identify any impacts or deterioration risk (assessed by ecoli levels in shellfish) and put improvement measures in place where needed. In addition, SEPA also work with industry to identify harvesting areas within SWPAs where improvement to FSS Class A is seen as a priority. 

For more detail on improvement actions to improve shellfish waters, view the RBMP plan.

Legislation

Shellfish Water Protected Areas are designated and amended by these Orders: 

The requirements to monitor, classify, set objectives and prepare a programme of measures for SWPAs is set out in these Regulations:  

How SEPA classifies Shellfish Water Protected Areas is set out in these Directions:  

Contact us

For more information, contact us.