A lifting barge is to try to recover the wreck of a fishing boat which sank in January with the loss of two fishermen.
Duncan MacDougall and Przemek Krawczyk were on board the Nancy Glen when it capsized in Loch Fyne in Argyll and Bute on January 18.
The alarm was raised by a third fisherman who was pulled from the water by the crew of a passing boat.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) conducted a seabed survey of the ship which is said to be lying at a depth of more than 459ft (140 metres).
The MAIB said it could not raise the boat but the Scottish Government stepped in to work with salvage specialists and the families of the crewmen to support efforts to retrieve the bodies.
A fundraising campaign to raise the prawn trawler from the bottom of the sea loch raised more than £200,000.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the area around the boat has been cleared to allow lifting work to begin.
She said: "We are confident that all of the debris has now been cleared around the site of Nancy Glen and a formal underwater visual survey will confirm this.
"Further preparatory work will now be undertaken before any lifting can begin at the site.
"This continues to be a complex task with a number of technical challenges, meaning there is no guarantee of success. We are in close contact with the families and are keeping them updated as the recovery progresses."
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