The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) was a civil service department of the Scottish Executive. SEERAD was responsible for the following areas in Scotland: agriculture, rural development, food, the environment and fisheries. Following the change of administration in May 2007, a restructuring exercise led to most SEERAD functions being continued under the new Scottish Executive Environment Directorate.

SEERAD was directly responsible for various agencies of the Scottish Executive and other public bodies relating to these areas of responsibility. From early 2005 the Department was headed by Richard Wakeford. The Minister for Environment and Rural Development was Ross Finnie and he was assisted by the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Sarah Boyack.

A concordat set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the United Kingdom government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs^[1]

Many of the functions of SEERAD were subsumed into the Environment Directorate in 2007.

Structure

The department had three executive agencies:

• Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, which is responsible for scientific research into agriculture
• Fisheries Research Services, which carries out scientific research into the fisheries and aquaculture areas
• Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, responsible for enforcing fisheries regulations in Scottish waters, and monitoring compliance

The department sponsored several non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) including:

• Crofters Commission
• Deer Commission for Scotland
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority
• The Macaulay Institute

The department also worked with Scottish Water.