Scottish Sanitary Survey Report Sanitary Survey Report Ganavan Bay Cockles AB-697-1512-04 May 2015 Report Title Ganavan Bay Cockles Project Name Scottish Sanitary Survey Food Standards Agency Client/Customer Scotland Cefas Project Reference C6316A Document Number C6316A_2014_28 Revision V1.0 Date 20/05/2015 Revision History Revision Date Pages revised Reason for revision number id3 05/03/2015 - Internal draft for review V0.1 09/03/2015 All External draft for consultation Amended in accordance with consultation responses, V1.0 20/05/2015 ii,iv,8-10 typographic/grammatical errors corrected. Name Position Date Jessica Larkham, Frank Scottish Sanitary Author 20/05/2015 Cox, Liefy Hendrikz Survey Team Principal Shellfish Checked Ron Lee 20/05/2015 Hygiene Scientist Senior Shellfish Approved Michelle Price-Hayward 20/05/2015 Hygiene Scientist This report was produced by Cefas for its Customer, the Food Standards Agency in Scotland, for the specific purpose of providing a sanitary survey as per the Customer’s requirements. Although every effort has been made to ensure the information contained herein is as complete as possible, there may be additional information that was either not available or not discovered during the survey. Cefas accepts no liability for any costs, liabilities or losses arising as a result of the use of or reliance upon the contents of this report by any person other than its Customer. Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, Weymouth Laboratory, Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth DT4 8UB. Tel 01305 206 600 www.cefas.defra.gov.uk Report Distribution –Kerrera Cockles Date Name Agency Joyce Carr Scottish Government David Denoon SEPA Douglas Sinclair SEPA Hazel MacLeod SEPA Fiona Garner Scottish Water Alex Adrian Crown Estate Christine McLachlan Argyll & Bute Council Ewan McDougall Argyll & Bute Council Douglas MacArthur Harvester Partner Organisations The hydrographic assessment and the shoreline survey and its associated report were undertaken by SRSL, Oban. Table of Contents 1 General Description .................................................................................. 1 2 Fishery ...................................................................................................... 3 3 Human Population .................................................................................... 5 4 Sewage Discharges .................................................................................. 7 4.1 Community Discharges ..................................................................... 7 4.2 Consented Private Discharges – SEPA .......................................... 10 4.3 Shoreline Survey Discharge Observations ...................................... 12 4.4 Summary ......................................................................................... 13 5 Agriculture............................................................................................... 15 6 Wildlife and pets ..................................................................................... 18 7 Land Cover ............................................................................................. 22 8 Watercourses .......................................................................................... 24 9 Meteorological Data ................................................................................ 26 9.1 Rainfall ............................................................................................ 26 9.2 Wind ................................................................................................ 28 10 Classification Information ........................................................................ 30 11 Historical E. coli Data .............................................................................. 31 11.1 Validation of historical data ............................................................. 31 11.2 Summary of microbiological results ................................................. 32 11.3 Overall geographical pattern of results ............................................ 32 11.4 Overall temporal pattern of results .................................................. 33 11.5 Summary and conclusions .............................................................. 34 12 Designated Waters Data ......................................................................... 35 13 Bathymetry and Hydrodynamics ............................................................. 37 13.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 37 13.2 Bathymetry and Hydrodynamics ..................................................... 39 13.3 Hydrographic Assessment .............................................................. 45 14 Shoreline Survey Overview..................................................................... 46 15 Bacteriological Survey ............................................................................ 48 16 Overall Assessment ................................................................................ 49 17 Recommendations .................................................................................. 51 18 References ............................................................................................. 53 19 List of Figures and Tables ...................................................................... 55 Appendices 1. General Information on Wildlife Impacts 2. Tables of Typical Faecal Bacteria Concentrations 3. Hydrographic Section Glossary 4. Shoreline Survey Report 5. Table of Consented Discharges © Crown Copyright 2015. Food Standards Agency Scotland and Cefas. All rights reserved. Ganavan Bay Sanitary Survey V1.0 20/05/2015 i of 56 I. Executive Summary Under (EC) Regulation 854/2004, which sets forth specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption, sanitary surveys of production areas and their associated hydrological catchments and coastal waters are required in order to establish the appropriate representative monitoring points (RMPs) for the monitoring programme. The purpose of the sanitary survey is to demonstrate compliance with the requirements stated in Annex II (Chapter II Paragraph 6) of Regulation (EC) 854/2004. The sanitary survey results in recommendations on the location of RMPs, the frequency of sampling for microbiological monitoring, and the boundaries of the production areas deemed to be represented by the RMPs. A sanitary survey was undertaken on the cockle fishery at Ganavan Cockles on the basis recommended in the European Union Reference Laboratory publication: “Microbiological Monitoring of Bivalve Mollusc Harvesting Area Guide to Good Practice: Technical Application” (http://www.cefas.defra.gov.uk/nrl/information-centre/eu-good-practice-guide.aspx). The survey was undertaken because this is a newly classified production area. The original application covered areas on the Isle of Kerrera as well. However, a preliminary assessment identified that potential pollution sources and circulation of pollutants would differ between Kerrera and Ganavan and therefore they have been subject to separate sanitary surveys. Ganavan Bay is located approximately 2.5 km north of Oban on the west coast of Scotland. It faces to the northwest and contains two beaches, Ganavan Beach and Little Ganavan. These have been identified as areas for commercial harvesting of wild cockles. During the shoreline survey, cockles were found at the northern end of Ganavan Beach and at Little Ganavan. Insufficient cockles for a sample were found at a nearby beach at Camas Bàn. There are relatively large community discharges, as well as private septic tank discharges, to the northeast of Ganavan Bay at Loch Etive and Ardmuknish Bay, and south of Ganavan Bay in the Sound of Kerrera. There is an emergency overflow for a community sewerage system pumping station at Ganavan Bay and there are also a number of consented private septic tkans in the close vicinity. Several consented private septic tanks were also identified adjacent to Camas Bàn. The latter area is more likely to be affected by discharges located within the Sound of Kerrera (including that from Oban STW) than is Ganavan Bay. The only evidence of agricultural activity in the immediate area of Ganavan Bay was cattle faeces identified by the shoreline to the north of Ganavan Beach during the shoreline survey. Impacts from wildlife will mainly relate to seabirds, although watercourses may also carry contamination from deer and otters. Seabirds may predominate at the southwestern end of the bay. The area is known to be popular with dog walkers and these may frequent Ganavan Beach more often than Little Ganavan. Ganavan Bay Sanitary Survey V1.0 20/05/2015 ii of 56 Several watercourses were identified during the shoreline survey. Single watercourses entered Ganavan Bay at each of the two beaches and these both had moderate estimated loadings. Another watercourse, with a higher loading, entered the bay between the two beaches. Separate watercourses were identified at Camas Bàn and these could impact that area: however, one had a low estimated loading and the others were too small to be measured or sampled. The hydrographic assessment determined that currents over the flood tide will generally flow to the northeast at Ganavan on the flood tide and to the southwest on the ebb tide. However, it is likely that an eddy will develop in Ganavan Bay itself. The cumulative transport distance on each