NatureScot denies ignoring scientific evidence in banning guga hunt

Scotland's nature agency has denied ignoring scientific evidence after refusing a licence for the killing of hundreds of young seabirds on a Hebridean island.

NatureScot rejected the application this year for the annual Guga hunt on Sula Sgeir - an uninhabited rocky island 40 miles (64km) north of Ness on Lewis.

Western Isles MP Torcuil Crichton said a report showed there was a debate within the agency about the "scientific conclusion" just two weeks before the decision.

But NatureScot said "all available information" and legal obligations had been considered over concerns about the impact on the gannet population.

For centuries, gannet chicks have been hunted for their meat each summer on Sula Sgeir, a small rocky island 40 miles (64km) north of Ness on Lewis.

However, opponents say the hunt is no longer needed to feed islanders and describe the method used to kill the chicks as cruel.

More than 106,000 people signed a petition, calling for the Scottish government to prohibit the hunt.

Harvesting methods have remained largely traditional, according to a report by the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Hunters use long poles fitted with a noose to catch chicks in their nests before being killed, usually by a blow to the head.

The birds are gutted, plucked and salted on Sula Sgeir before being taken by boat to Lewis where they are counted by a NatureScot official.

Western Isles MP Crichton made a Freedom of Information (FoI) request around the decision to ban this year's hunt.

The FoI, first revealed in the Stornoway Gazette and seen by BBC Scotland, shows that the advice given to the NatureScot board was tha taking 500 chicks "will not have an adverse effect on the site integrity of the North Rona and Sula Sgeir SPA, subject to a number of mitigation measures which we can incorporate into licence conditions.

"We are therefore recommending that for 2026 the board issue a licence for the take of 500 birds".

Two weeks later the NatureScot board said it would not be issuing a licence this year. Hunters had sought a licence to take either 2,000 or 500 birds.

Harvests did not take place in 2022, 2023 and 2024 due to concerns around bird flu.

A total of 485 birds were taken at the 2025 hunt.

Labour MP Crichton called on NatureScot's future decision-making process over the hunt to involve more contributions from locals.

He also said NatureScot should detail the "scientific modelling" on how the decision to dent the licence was reached.

"No-one is saying NatureScot acted illegally, or outwith its bounds, but the FoI shows there was a debate in NatureScot about the modelling, about the scientific conclusion just a fortnight before they rejected the licence," he said.

"When NatureScot come to meet with the Ness community and talk to people who are the real experts, I hope they explain how they came to the conclusion, how the modelling works, and how the modelling will work in the future."

He added: "We have to build that relationship, that trust between NatureScot and the Ness community to find way ahead. And I think if we do that with an explanation of how this scientific conclusion was reached, we will be on the right road."

A NatureScot spokeswoman said NatureScot's board had considered extensive evidence and advice before making its decision.

"As with many complex conservation issues, there were differing professional views and robust internal discussion," she said. "That is an important part of good governance and decision-making, not proof that scientific advice was ignored."

She said that "after careful consideration" the board had concluded that it could not be satisfied that the relevant tests had been met.

"We recognise the deep cultural significance of the guga hunt to the Ness community and understand the strength of feeling surrounding this issue," she said.

"Reasonable people may disagree with the outcome. However, suggestions that the decision was reached without proper regard to the evidence or expert advice are simply wrong.

"The board acted lawfully, carefully and in good faith in carrying out its responsibilities."

Gannet meat has been described as tasting like a cross between kipper and steak or "salty goose" and, less flatteringly, as "rotten leather and fishy beef".

Other descriptions have included it being like a mix of anchovy paste and high-strength cod liver oil.