Fishermen facing eviction from a historic Aberdeen harbour could launch a legal battle with a local land owner.
Nearly a dozen fishermen have been told to remove their boats from Cove Bay Harbour.
Solicitors working on behalf of land owner Pralhad Kolhe warned the fishermen that they have until May 9 to remove their boats, or face legal action.
In a letter to boat owners, they wrote: Mr Kolhe wishes to improve the land for amenity use.
Currently he is unable to make any use of his land because of the presence of a number of fishing vessels.
Mr Kolhe does not wish any vessel to be stored on the ground.
Mr Kolhe plans to allow the fishermen to continue fishing at the harbour if they make alternative arrangements to store their vessels.
But concerns have been raised over the difficulty of launching boats from a trailer on Cove’s shingle beach.
Fisherman George Skinner said: “I’m just devastated, the whole village is devastated.
“You can’t have a harbour without boats and nobody can see where this is coming from.”
A petition against the eviction has gained more than 1580 signatures.
Meanwhile, “no parking” notices are being handed out at the harbour and fences have been erected.
20072014 STV