Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003

30 Exemptions in relation to fish farming

(1) Subject to subsections (2) to (6) below, a person shall not be guilty of a contravention of any of sections 1, 2, 5(1)(b) and (c), 13(2) and (3), 14(1), 15 to 18 and 22(1), or regulations under section 31(1)(a) or (d), of this Act in respect of any act or omission if the act or the omission takes place within, and in the course of the operation of, a fish farm.

(2) There shall be no contravention of paragraph (b) or (c) of section 5(1) of this Act, by virtue of subsection (1) above, in respect of an act referred to in those paragraphs if, and only if, the act is carried out with the consent of the Scottish Ministers.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) above, the act of selling or exporting fish by or on behalf of a person who has reared the fish in a fish farm shall be deemed to be an act carried out within a fish farm in the course of the operation of that farm.

(4) In any proceedings for an offence under section 15 of this Act in relation to a boat or other thing mentioned in that section which is not in a fish farm, it shall be a defence for the person charged with such offence to prove that the act or omission complained of was necessary for the purpose of the operation of a fish farm.

(5) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under section 16, 17(2)(b), 18(1)(b) or 22 of this Act to show that that person believed on reasonable grounds that the fish with respect to which the offence is alleged to have been committed were produced by fish farming.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (5) above “fish farming” means the breeding, rearing or cultivating of fish, whether or not for the purpose of producing food for human consumption; but the reference in that subsection to fish produced by fish farming does not include fish bred, reared or cultivated in captivity which have later been released to the wild.