Assessment of Cost Structure and Competitiveness in the salmon growing industry in Scotland UK

Scottish Government - Project Dates:
February 2008 - October 2008

Description of Project:
An investigation into how the extent and application of regulations impact upon the cost of production in Scotland as compared to the target countries of Norway and Chile.

Services Provided:
Poseidon, in association with Hambrey Consulting, led a team of Scottish, Norwegian and Chilean aquaculture experts in developing financial models for each producer country. The costs to production of regulation in each country were quantified. The study looked at the impact of regulation for the salmon growing sector in the three producing areas (e.g. restrictions on the size of production at a site due to discharge consents, medicine licencing and differences in planning regimes, etc.), including the cost of delay caused by regulation. The application of a 'user charge' i.e. the Crown Estate rent in Scotland and the Norwegian production licence (a large capital cost for new entrants, but a major asset to established companies) was found to be critical to the level of regulatory costs identified for producer countries.