Researching the potential impacts of proposed large-scale offshore renewable energy projects on migratory fish is one of the priorities in a strategy to protect salmon in a famous Scottish fishery.

A six-year blueprint aimed at enhancing the salmon populations in the Ness district has been unveiled, and local people are being invited to give their views before the plan is finalised next month.

It seeks greater knowledge of fish populations in Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal and proposes measures to tackle invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam around Inverness.

It comes a year after a fisheries management specialist Chris Connroy was charged with reversing the dramatic decline of salmon in the River Ness and its catchment area, which had seen a decrease of more than 1,000% in some tributaries.

Chris Conroy, director of the Fishery Board, said : "The full ecological value and economic potential of this resource can only be achieved and sustained by careful management."