The future of the Sula Sgeir guga hunt has reached a watershed with confirmation that the Men of Ness have submitted an application for the 2026 expedition.
NatureScot, which licenses the annual cull of young gannets, confirmed the application has been received and they will assess it as “required by the relevant legal frameworks and using the most recent scientific evidence.”
Acknowledging that there are “strong feelings” about the guga hunt on both sides of the debate, NatureScot has received a large volume of emails on the issue.
In a statement, NatureScot said: “Our Chair is considering these [emails] and will be seeking guidance from our licensing team to inform future discussions with our Board.
“We thank those who have contacted us for highlighting their concerns clearly and constructively. However, given the volume of correspondence received, we are unfortunately unable to respond individually.”
Protect the Wild, one of the campaign groups opposed to the guga hunt, has renewed its call for the practice to be abolished, calling it “one of the cruellest and most ecologically reckless wildlife practices left in Scotland.”
Devon Docherty, Scottish campaigns manager, said: “NatureScot is the only thing standing between these birds and another year of senseless slaughter.”
However, there is an equally passionate, if less vocal, local opinion in Ness, where guga are considered a seasonal delicacy, that external forces are attempting to suppress a cultural heritage.
Earlier this month, the group tried to present its petition against the 2026 guga hunt to NatureScot. With over 183,000 signatures, it is believed to be the largest petition ever presented to NatureScot. The licensing body, however, declined to be involved in a photo opp and insisted the petition would have to be submitted by email, according to the campaign group.
Protect the Wild argues that Sula Sgeir is the only Special Protection Area for gannets in decline, and the hunt is suppressing recovery.
According to polling commissioned by Protect the Wild, 77% of Scots who expressed a view support banning the hunt.
Earlier this month, NatureScot were also compelled to admit that the cull of young gannets is also disrupting a highly protected seabird species on Sula Sgeir.
Following a Freedom of Information request by Protect the Wild regarding the critically threatened Leach’s storm petrels, Nature Scot stated the guga hunt “could cause a reduction in breeding success through nest abandonment or chick mortality.”
The rare seabird that nests in burrows is classified as red-listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species and the UK’s Birds of Conservation Concern.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the guga hunt puts at risk Leach’s storm petrels by blocking access to burrows, disrupting feeding and causing stress and disorientation.
Campaigners are also continuing to press the Scottish Parliament to remove the exemption contained in the Wildlife and Countryside Act that allows the hunt. The issue is expected to return to Holyrood for debate soon.
The guga hunt is recognised in law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes specific provision for the granting of a licence for the purpose of providing food for human consumption in relation to the gannets on the island of Sula Sgeir.
NatureScot’s role is to make licensing decisions based on the most recent scientific evidence.
The Men of Ness, the hunters, in 2025 submitted their first licence since 2021.
In the wake of survey data collected in 2024 following bird flu outbreaks, NatureScot reduced the maximum number of birds that could be collected from 2,000 to 500, with a licence granted on condition that all the birds must be killed humanely. The reduction to 500 was, said NatureScot, to ensure the gannet population on Sula Sgeir remains stable for the future.
Image content - via Protect the Wild
