Summary: The proposed fish farm site lies within an SPA designated to protect 40% of the breeding population of Manx Shearwaters and a number of other seabirds and is in the Small Isles MPA. The farm is in an area used for assembling by rafts of shearwaters and will disrupt this behaviour. There is also a strong chance that the use of chemical sea lice therapeutants will cause mortality to seabirds and otters through direct ingestion and secondary poisoning. The same therapeutants are likely to have a direct impact on several of the invertebrate features of the MPA, notably the commercially important Nephrops norvegicus. It is now believed that this impact occurs over far larger distances than has been predicted by the existing models and at concentrations below those that are currently detectable. This points to the need to undertake a Habitats Regulations Appraisal before considering approval for this farm.
http://www.scotlink.org/files/documents/LINK-Aquaculture-Response-Small-Isles.doc