NatureScot's Board Meets Tomorrow. Tell Them to Stop the Guga Hunt.
The Board are being briefed on the Guga hunt licence application - now is the time to speak up.
Tomorrow morning, NatureScot’s Board are having a meeting, and the Guga hunt is on the agenda. Now is the time to remind them the world is watching, and they will not get away with quietly condemning hundreds of innocent Gannet chicks to death.
The Guga hunt is the annual killing of young Gannet seabirds on the remote Scottish island of Sula Sgeir. The chicks are taken from their nests, bludgeoned to death, sold and consumed for tradition and a local delicacy. It can only happen if Scotland’s nature agency gives out a licence for it.
To be clear, NatureScot’s final decision on the licence will not be made tomorrow. That is expected at a further Board meeting in early August. But tomorrow marks the beginning of those formal discussions. With your support, it could also mark the beginning of the end for the Guga hunt.
What will they be discussing?
At tomorrow’s meeting, NatureScot’s licensing team will brief the Board on the Guga hunt licence application.
The new scientific analysis that will inform the decision isn't ready yet, but tomorrow’s meeting paper sets out what the review will assess, what wider issues NatureScot intends to consider, and what legal tests the application must pass - and on that basis, there are reasons to be hopeful.
We’re pleased to see NatureScot recognising that this isn’t simply about counting Gannets. They said they will consider the impact on other breeding seabirds, as well as wider issues including disturbance and biosecurity.
It’s also encouraging to see NatureScot acknowledge the devastating impact of avian flu may still not be fully understood. The meeting paper states that “the full impact of this disease at colonies, including Sula Sgeir, has likely been masked by population increases prior to the outbreak.”
But the most important part of the paper is the legal test NatureScot has to meet.
Before granting a licence, they must conclude that the Guga hunt “will not adversely affect the integrity” of the North Rona and Sula Sgeir Special Protection Area (SPA).
The evidence is in our favour here. NatureScot’s own assessments have already shown that Sula Sgeir is the only protected Gannet site where the population has fallen since it was given protected status, while others grow substantially. Coincidence? We think not.
Their research shows the Guga hunt suppresses the Gannet colony’s long-term growth rate, and that it could increase stress, weaken immunity, reduce survival rates, and worsen the impacts of avian influenza.
Disturbance to other breeding seabirds, including the extremely vulnerable red-listed Leach’s Storm Petrel, is unavoidable.
The SPA’s overarching objective is to keep its key species in favourable condition and contribute to their conservation across Scotland and the UK.
Yet 70% of Sula Sgeir’s key species are already in unfavourable condition.
It’s extremely difficult to see how another hunt could be concluded to have no adverse effect on the integrity of the site.
These are encouraging signs - but signs won't save Gannets. Decisions will. The real question is whether NatureScot has set a meaningful legal bar, or simply a longer checklist before licensing the same outcome.
At the end of the day, their job is to protect nature and wildlife. Not justify its destruction. So please, don’t let NatureScot quietly sign away their lives. Send them an email right now.
Already emailed? Good. Now leave a comment on NatureScot’s social media, asking them publicly to reject the licence, and protect Gannets.