// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Scottish islanders refused permission to stage annual seabird chicks hunt
A team of hunters go to the small island of Sula Sgeir to kill young gannets
Permission has been refused for a guga hunt which would have seen hundreds of young seabirds killed on an uninhabited Hebridean island.
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.
Modern hunts require a licence from public agency NatureScot, which rejected the application this year due to concerns about the impact on the gannet population.
Animal welfare groups have welcomed the decision, but supporters accused campaigners of "bullying" a small island community.
The decision to refuse a licence for Scotland's last remaining guga hunt this year was taken by NatureScot's board following a recommendation by officials.
Gannet chicks on Bass Rock were once hunted and sold in a market in Edinburgh
Hunting seabirds on Sula Sgeir goes back to the time of the Vikings, according to historian Donald S Murray, author of the book The Guga Hunters.
Murray told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast that historically birds were a vital source of food for people living in Ness, Lewis, on the North Atlantic coast.
He said the area had "geographical difficulties". Rough seas made fishing hazardous and there were challenges around the quantity and quality of the land, which was mostly moorland.