JACK McConnell is fighting a private battle with his environment minister, Ross Finnie, over plans to revive the scallop fishing industry near the First Minister's holiday home.
Mr McConnell has backed proposals for the setting up of a "no-take zone" across half of scenic Lamlash Bay on Arran, near where he grew up.
However, campaigners claim that the move has been continually stalled by Mr Finnie and his department.
According to sources, Mr McConnell has expressed his anger about the lack of action.
Although the First Minister is unlikely to overrule Mr Finnie because he does not believe the issue is big enough to warrant publicly humiliating a coalition colleague, the source said: "Jack is pretty annoyed with Ross about this because it's a good scheme that's been well thought through. He would like to see it happening."
The spat has been triggered by a plan put forward by the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) to -
ban fishing boats from dredging a 240 hectare area of the bay for a decade, allowing marine life, including cod and haddock, to flourish for generations to come.
However, despite meeting Mr Finnie a year ago and winning the support of the First Minister and cross-party MSPs, including the area's Labour MSP Allan Wilson, COAST claims the plan has been ignored by the Executive's environment and rural affairs department (SEERAD).
Members of COAST say Mr Finnie has being swayed by lobbyists for the Clyde fishing fleet.
Don MacNeish, a spokesman for COAST, said: "It is well within the remit of the Executive to establish a 'no-take zone' and we have got overwhelming community and political support for it. Unfortunately it seems that someone in SEERAD doesn't want to see it happen. We're determined to be heard."
Murray Tosh, a Conservative list MSP for the west of Scotland, has been so frustrated in his attempts to discover why SEERAD will not give the go-ahead for a trial marine protection zone in Lamlash Bay that he was forced to table a parliamentary question asking why his letters on the scheme had received no reply. He said yesterday: "This is a very odd situation, because ordinarily MSPs can expect a ministerial reply in three to four weeks, but this has been five months.
"I must say that if it does not reflect well on me that I am not able to get my constituents an answer then it reflects shockingly on Ross Finnie that he has so far been unable to come up with one."
Howard Wood, another member of COAST, said: "If SEERAD is treating MSPs with such contempt that they are forced to ask that type of question in parliament, then what hope have we as a small island community?
"But we will not give up our community campaign just because we're being ignored by some unelected, faceless suits," he added.
COAST members met Mr Finnie in May last year when he told them he would write to them with his decision.
A spokeswoman for Mr Finnie would not be drawn on any disagreement with the First Minister yesterday. She said: "We are writing to COAST to set out the way forward and will make an announcement once we have informed them directly."
She was unable to say when the letter would be sent.
