By Ken Bell, angling correspondent

CLAIMS BY deputy environment minister Sarah Boyack that it “proved extremely difficult to attract leading scientists” to the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory at Faskally have been disproved in a parliamentary rely to MSP John Swinney—from Sarah Boyack.

Ms Boyack made the claim in January in a letter to Mr Swinney after he expressed fears the Faskally lab might be moved to Banchory.

At that time Professor Robin Cook, head of the Fisheries Research Service (FRS), said the Banchory proposal was one of several options being looked at.

Ms Boyack told the North Tayside MSP the move was being considered as the Faskally premises required “a significant investment” as well as the “extremely difficult” job of attracting staff.

But in follow-up questions he has found every time a vacancy at Faskally is advertised the FRS receives an average of 15 applications and only once in the past four years has a job had to be re-advertised.

Mr Swinney yesterday hit out at the “misinformation” that has emerged since The Courier exclusively broke the news in December of the threat to the laboratory.

The MSP said yesterday, “I have been deeply concerned about the prospects of the relocation of the freshwater laboratory from Pitlochry to Banchory or Aberdeen.

“The staff have been unsettled by the speculation, and it is vital that quality information is put in the public domain to demonstrate the strength of the case for remaining at Faskally.

“At the core of my concern has been the misinformation that has emerged, and included in a letter to me from the deputy environment minister Sarah Boyack that somehow it has been difficult to recruit expert staff to work at the laboratory. The answers I have obtained to my questions destroy those arguments.”

Mr Swinney added, “I hope the publication of this quality information demonstrates that there is a powerful case for retaining the laboratory at Faskally.”

“There is no justification for jeopardising the skill base that exists, nor is there a justification for disrupting the lives of so many committed public servants in Pitlochry.

“The freshwater lab contributes an enormous amount to the economic and social life of Pitlochry and it must stay there.”

Regarding length of service at Faskally, Ms Boyack had to admit 15 staff had worked there for 20 years or more, seven for 10-20 years, 12 for three to nine years, three for up to two years and six for less than a year.