It looks like the 2026 guga hunt won’t be going ahead.

The board of NatureScot will officially rule on the guga hunt licence application on 3 August. But a report from the agency’s scientific advisors has recommended refusal.

The advisors examined three options:

• Granting the full licence for the killing of 2,000 gannet chicks (guga).
• Granting a licence for a smaller bag of 500 guga.
• Refusing the licence.

They recommended the third option. The advisors said this was due to the impact on the overall gannet population in the Special Protection Area of North Rona and Sula Sgeir. Sula Sgeir is the remote island where the guga hunt takes place.

Population modelling concluded that killing 2,000 gannet chicks would have an “adverse effect on site integrity”. It also showed the same, although with less certainty, for killing 500. Therefore the advisors recommend refusing the licence.

Rob Pownall from Protect the Wild has been campaigning relentlessly against the guga hunt. He welcomed the report:

THIS IS HUGE! pic.twitter.com/4Oh9AaG6Bn

— Protect the Wild (@ProtectTheWild_) July 29, 2026

The League Against Cruel Sports has also responded to the report. Robbie Marsland, Scotland and Northern Ireland director, commented:

This is great news for the gannets of Sula Sgeir and we welcome NatureScot’s recommendation not to licence the hunt this year. But it’s a stay of execution, not a reprieve.

The decision has been made on conservation grounds which means that once the population recovers, there’s every likelihood that the killing starts again.

We’re calling on the Scottish Government to close the loophole that lets up to 2,000 young birds on this tiny island be killed.

This hunt belongs to another century. Understanding of animal welfare has changed and no animal should die like this for food in Scotland in the 21st century.

As Marsland points out, the recommendation makes no mention of issues beyond the population impact. It didn’t cover food safety concerns. And it didn’t bother tackling the question of ‘humane slaughter methods’. This is despite both research and the hunters’ own brainless evidence suggesting the guga hunt is far from humane.

The advisors’ report includes the full text of the licence application. In it, the hunters detail the “capture method” they use:

If they don’t regard this as pertinent to their decision making then maybe the campaign to end the guga hunt for good will have to continue.

Featured image via John Ranson / the Canary

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