Food sectors
Shellfish
A guide to producing mussels, oysters and other bivalves
Updated 9 May 2024
Records and inspections
Before starting shellfish production, you should familiarise yourself with ongoing administrative and reporting duties. You can then keep legally required records and are prepared for inspections from the Fish Health Inspectorate.
Crown Estate reporting
As part of your Crown Estate lease, you need to report annually on:
- All equipment on your farm.
- All plastics on your farm, their type and disposal/management of plastic waste.
- Increases or decreases in plastic use, and reasons for it.
Failing to report is a breach of your lease and can result in your lease being terminated. More information will be provided by Crown Estate as part of the leasing process.
Keeping records
You are legally required to keep good records of all your farming and business operations. In addition to your licence and permissions documents, you should keep and retain records of:
- Your stock numbers and equipment.
- All movements of shellfish, whether from seed supplier to you or from your farm to your onshore facility. A record template can be found here.
- Your biosecurity measures (see ‘Biosecurity Measures Plan).
- Who you supply live shellfish to and when, and the batches they were supplied. You need to keep these records at least 3 months to be able to recall produce if a problem arises.
- All your business operations and financial accounts.
Inspections
The Fish Health Inspectorate will inspect your farm before you start production. They will also do annual audits and inspections, which will mostly be pre-arranged, but they can also do visits without prior notice.
During these inspections, you need to provide all your up-to-date records and assist the Inspector in accessing different parts of your farm. Find out more about inspections on the Fish Health Inspectorate website.