SEA-BIRD NUMBERS AND MAN gg 



the men of Barvas was made until recently in a 40-foot skefia or 

 'sgoth,' a direct descendant of the old Norse galley, the only boat 

 of its type remaining. The men landed on the east side of the island 

 and dragged their boat up its rocky side. They spent about a week 

 among the gannets, living in an ancient stone hut and killing the young 

 ones by clubbing. They took them for human food, dog food and even 

 cattle food in winter, splitting and salting the gugas. It is possible 

 that at certain times, including years of the present century, since 

 the custom of raiding was noted in 1549, the men of Barvas have 

 over-cropped. However, the colony had a good rest during the war 

 and (see p. 83) has considerably increased. We see no reason to 

 depart from the view expressed ten years ago by one of us and H. G. 

 Vevers, which was this: "We are not convinced that absolute protection 

 of this colony is necessary, or indeed desirable in view of the very 

 ancient custom of taking gannets here after a 45-mile journey in an 

 open skeffa from Ness. But we do suggest that future harvesting be 

 consciously planned, and, in view of the recent decline in numbers at 

 this colony, we would propose that no more than a thousand young 

 should be taken in any one year, until further scientific census work 

 justifies an alteration in this number." 



In 1952, however, there were signs of an end to Britain's last 

 traditional sea-fowlery (if that is the word). After the war a small 

 boat, the Mayflower, with an inboard engine, was substituted for the 

 skeffa. It was too heavy to be dragged up the steep rocky landing, 

 and was precariously moored near the landing-place, where it had 

 to be constantly watched. In 1949 the men got into serious difficulties, 

 and in 1952 the Mayflower was lost; the men returning home in a 

 larger boat, the Mairi Dhonn from Berneray (Anon, 1952). It would 

 be possible to continue the visits in boats of the size of the Mairi 

 Dhonn; but for many years now the harbour at Ness, built at great 

 expense with public funds, has been silted up, and useless for such 

 craft, and the expense of hiring from another parish (Berneray is 

 thirty miles away) is probably prohibitive. So, far from being planned, 

 future harvesting of the Sula Sgeir gannets is likely to be desultory, or to 

 cease altogether after a continuous practice of over four hundred years. 



K. Williamson (1948) gives an excellent account of bird fowling in 

 the Faeroe Islands, an important and traditional folk-industry con- 

 nected with the bird mountains of the northern and western coasts 

 of the islands. In the Faeroes, as in Iceland, fowling has always been 

 combined with farming and fishing, and with a culture and civilisation 



