Freedom of Information Request - Guga Hunt – Financial and Commercial Aspects
Date: 24 September 2025
Our ref: SIR181528/A5428114
Information Request – Guga Hunt – Financial and Commercial Aspects
Your Request
I am seeking information about the financial and commercial aspects of the guga hunt for the following years: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2024, and 2025. Please provide the following, broken down clearly by each of these years:
1. Financials
• Whether NatureScot charges a fee for issuing guga hunt licences.
• Whether public money (including NatureScot staff time, travel, monitoring costs) is spent facilitating, overseeing, or enforcing the hunt, and if so how much each year?
2. Commercial Sale
• Any correspondence or records regarding the commercial sale of guga meat.
• Whether NatureScot tracks or records the sale or distribution of meat taken under licence.
• Whether NatureScot derives any direct or indirect financial benefit from the licensed hunt.
If any data for 2025 is not yet available, please explicitly confirm this in your response. If data from previous years is not available, please give a reason as to why.
Our Response
We have responded to each of your questions in turn:
1. Financials
• Whether NatureScot charges a fee for issuing guga hunt licences?
NatureScot does not charge a fee for issuing guga hunt licences.
• Whether public money (including NatureScot staff time, travel, monitoring costs) is spent facilitating, overseeing, or enforcing the hunt, and if so how much each year?
We have taken facilitation to mean the issuing of a licence by NatureScot, as otherwise the guga hunt would not be able to take place.
A Licensing Officer, with guidance from both the NatureScot Area and Marine Ornithology teams, assesses the application in line with the licensing tests, as with any licence application received by the NatureScot licensing team. The time taken to assess a licence application is not recorded.
The only ‘overseeing’ undertaken by NatureScot staff is a count of the birds by a local Area Officer in Stornoway, as per the licence conditions, to ensure the bag limit has not been breached. This takes approximately 45 minutes.
NatureScot does not possess any powers of enforcement and therefore does not undertake any enforcement activity.
2. Commercial Sale
• Any correspondence or records regarding the commercial sale of guga meat?
NatureScot are not involved in the commercial sale of the guga meat
• Whether NatureScot tracks or records the sale or distribution of meat taken under licence?
NatureScot does not track, or record, the sale or distribution of meat taken under licence.
• Whether NatureScot derives any direct or indirect financial benefit from the licensed hunt?
NatureScot does not derive, either directly or indirectly, any financial benefit from the licensed hunt.
As we do not hold any information relating to the second part of your request, we must, under the EIR regulations, apply the following exemption 10(4)(a)(Information not held).
How We Handled Your Request
We believe you have asked for environmental information as defined in the Environmental Information (Scotland Regulations 2004 (‘the EIRs’), so we are dealing with your request under those regulations. To be able to use the EIRs, we must apply an exemption under section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘FOISA’). The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance recommends that public authorities apply this exemption to environmental information and handle request under the EIRs.
If you would like to find out more about the access to information legislation, there is a guidance booklet available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website.
Review and Appeal
I hope this information meets your requirements, but if you are dissatisfied with how we have responded to your information request, please write to us within 40 working days explaining your concerns. You can contact us at Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW or email us at [email protected]. We will carry out a review of our response and contact you with our findings within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer,
NatureScot
