Without an adequate understanding of their demise, nor appropriate scientific research into how they might recover, their status, and those of the rural and island communities that depend on them, remain in the balance. 1 Data submitted as part of further information attached to a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, available at https://www.parliament.scot/- /media/files/committees/rural-affairs-and-islands-committee/correspondence/2024...