NatureScot rejects licence for centuries-old guga hunt for the first time

The annual seabird hunt sees ten men, known as the Men of Ness, travel to the small uninhabited island of Sula Sgeir, to the north of Lewis, to harvest young gannets to eat.

The centuries-old tradition has been interrupted at times for reasons including the World Wars, the Coronavirus and during bouts of bird flu.

Read more: Tiny community home to guga hunt faces 'most toxic moment in modern era'

However, the decision marks the first time the hunt has been officially denied permission on the grounds of conservation. Officials said they were not able to prove “beyond scientific doubt” that any harvest would not “undermine the integrity” of the gannet population on the islet.

Animal activists, who have been mounting pressure on NatureScot to ban the hunt for good, said the day marked “a victory for compassion, for conservation and for common sense.”

Islanders in support of the hunt questioned the methodology used in determining the impact on the birds and island, claiming that this year’s conditions were no different to last summer. They said the decision was disappointing for Lewis and island culture.

Last year, the guga hunt went ahead for the first time after a bad bout of avian influenza. The Men of Ness decided to hold off the harvest for three years to allow gannet numbers to recover. As a precaution, they reduced the number of birds to eat to 500 rather than the usual 2,000 out of a colony of some 10,000 breeding pairs.

However the return of the hunt sparked fierce backlash from animal activists. In November last year, wildlife photographer Rachel Bigsby, from Sussex, lodged a petition calling for the hunt to be banned altogether.

Campaigns and protests ensued, including demonstrations that saw animal rights activists arrested and charged and NatureScot’s headquarters in Inverness vandalised.

Islanders in support of the annual hunt said locals had faced “the most toxic moment in its modern era” after a deluge of hate messages directed at the Men of Ness were published on social media.

Animal charity Protect the Wild has been at the forefront of the campaign against the hunt.

Devon Docherty, the charity’s Scotland campaigns manager, said: “Today is a victory for compassion, for conservation and for common sense.

“Thousands of young seabirds have been spared from a brutal death because NatureScot chose to follow the evidence rather than simply rubber-stamp another licence to kill.”

Campaigners said one of the main reasons why they want the practice band is because of the method in which the birds are killed.

The Men of Ness use long poles fitted with a noose to catch the young birds in their nest and deliver a blow to the head. The birds are gutted, plucked and salted on the island before being taken back to Lewis.

The NatureScot board meeting on Monday heard confirmation that the method had been ratified by the Scottish Government’s chief vet and that it was a humane way to kill.

The guga hunt is the UK’s last remaining seabird hunt, allowed by an exemption in section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Protect the Wild said they are working on encouraging the Scottish Government to amend the legislation to remove that exemption permanently.

Murdo MacRitchie, a Ness local, said islanders will look to make changes in their approach in the hope that the hunt can go ahead next year.

“It’s obviously really disappointing what has happened,” he said.

“If we can look at any positives, though, NatureScot said the decision has been made for 2026 only. They also said they want to get earlier engagement with the teams to view what a more sustainable harvest could look like.

“We just need to work towards what 2027 is going to look like.”