The Scottish government may have declared a ‘nature emergency’, but, said a fisheries expert, it is failing to protect important fish, in Scotland’s lochs since the Ice Age.

The Arctic charr, said fish biologist Ron Greer, is currently under threat from invasive species and despite many years of warnings, the government has done “little” about it. “Previous SNP governments,” he said, “and the current SNP-Green government have failed to protect these important species.”

“I feel,” he said, “I have been stonewalled by every cabinet secretary for environment from the days of Roseanna Cunningham to Lorna Slater who has palmed me off. But the problem isn’t really with the politicians. They are non-specialist themselves. It’s the inertia of the bureaucrats.”