Scottish Guga Hunt

The Guga Hunt is a traditional harvest of young Northern gannets (“guga”) carried out on the remote island of Sula Sgeir, North of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The practice is associated with the Ness community at the Northern tip of Lewis and is widely understood to date back several centuries, with records describing the hunt as early as 1549.The practice represents the last remaining traditional seabird harvest in Scotland and remains culturally important to the Ness community.

Today, the hunt operates under licence from NatureScot through provisions within the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). The licence sets conditions for the hunt, including the number of birds that may be taken each year.

In recent years, the hunt has become the subject of increasing conservation concern. Scottish seabird populations, including gannets, are facing multiple pressures including climate change, fisheries interactions and disease outbreaks such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Recent population declines at Sula Sgeir, alongside concerns about disturbance to other breeding seabird species on the island, have led to growing discusion about the future of the hunt and the balance between cultural tradition and seabird conservation.

In May 2026, the Scottish Seabird Centre published a detailed report assessing the Guga Hunt in the context of seabird conservation, which included clear reccomendations for Scottish Government.

The report concludes that there is currently insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the hunt can continue without adverse impacts on internationally important seabird populations and protected species breeding on Sula Sgeir. Alongside the removal of gannet chicks, concerns remain regarding disturbance impacts on other breeding seabirds, including Northern fulmar, European storm petrel and Leach’s storm petrel.

In the context of ongoing seabird declines, unpredictable disease impacts, the slow recovery rate of gannets, and the poorly understood pressures caused by disturbance, this report recommends that licensing of the guga hunt should be permanently ended. This recommendation is made not in disregard of the hunt’s cultural significance, but in recognition that environmental conditions have changed fundamentally and now require a more precautionary approach to seabird conservation.

The report also calls for:

• comprehensive and regularly updated seabird monitoring,
• detailed assessment of disturbance impacts on breeding seabirds,
• improved population modelling incorporating disease, immigration between colonies and cumulative pressures,
• public access to survey, monitoring and modelling data used in licensing decisions, and
• collaborative work with the Ness community to support cultural heritage and involvement in seabird conservation and monitoring on Sula Sgeir.

Image (c) Jamie McDermaid