Letter: Charr grilling

I cannot articulate strongly enough my empathy with Mike Haseler (Letters, 24 January) over his incredulity and annoyance in respect of the Scottish Government's approval of the introduction of exotic whitefish species from England into Scottish lochs.

However, the situation is even worse than he might surmise. Vendace, perhaps the most competitive of the genus Coregonus, has already been introduced into Loch Earn, which happens to contain the rarest form of Arctic charr known in Scotland. My fellow charr biologists in Scandinavia squirmed in horror when they heard of this, because the experience there has shown such introductions eventually lead to the extinction of charr.

I have remonstrated with both Roseanna Cunningham MSP, the environment minister, and Scottish National Heritage (SNH) for more than three years in respect of vendace introductions.

The minister has declined to reply over her position regarding the options for saving the Loch Earn charr, while the response from SNH is like a poorly written script from Yes Minister.

It would appear that from the point of view of Scotland's native fish species, the initials of this quango stand for "still no hope".

Ron Greer

Blair Atholl

Perthshire