Guga Hunt Licence Refused for Sula Sgeir
NatureScot board rejects application for traditional seabird harvest amidst conservation concerns and protests.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Carla Rooney
Permission for a guga hunt on the uninhabited Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir has been refused.
Modern guga hunts demand a license from NatureScot, a public agency now commissioning an updated population model to predict the hunt's effect on the gannet population.
The annual harvest of gannet poults from Sùla Sgeir by the Men of Ness represents a tradition dating back centuries, with a history stretching to the time of the Vikings.
A group of 10 islanders, known as the Men of Ness, traditionally spent approximately 10 days in August harvesting chicks.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 recognizes the cultural significance of the hunt in law, placing a duty on NatureScot to consider any license application based upon the best available science.
NatureScot concluded that an adverse impact is possible at both the requested limit of 2,000 juvenile gannets and a reduced limit of 500.
After assessing the application against the legislation and using the most recent scientific evidence, our board’s decision is to refuse a licence.
The British gannet population increased sixfold in the twentieth century.
Harvesting methods involve using long poles with a noose to catch chicks in their nests before hunters kill them, usually by a blow to the head.
The birds are then gutted, plucked, and salted on Sula Sgeir before transport to Lewis; 485 birds were taken at the 2025 hunt.
Opponents of the guga hunt claim the practice is no longer needed to feed islanders and describe the method used to kill the chicks as cruel.
Supporters, however, accused campaigners of "bullying" a small island community.
Two individuals were arrested and charged in March following protests at NatureScot's headquarters, which also sustained vandalism.
A candidate stood for the Holyrood seat of Edinburgh Central in May to protest the hunt.
NatureScot claims the aggression and intimidation tactics of some anti-guga hunt protesters come at significant personal cost to its expert and dedicated staff.
People in Ness will understandably feel that this recommendation risks rewarding a campaign in which members of a small island community have been bullied and abused and publicly owned property has been vandalized.
Torcuil Crichton claims the numbers have not changed, nor has the situation, but the way of measuring the numbers has changed.
Torcuil Crichton also claims objectors had won a "hollow victory" stopping this year's hunt.