Faroe Islands will require hunters to report seabird catches

Hunters in the Faroe Islands will have to register all ordinary bird hunting from next year, KVF reports. The requirement follows changes to the Bird Hunting Act approved by parliament in May.

The shooting season for seabirds reopened on October 20. Hunters say large numbers of birds, especially razorbills, have been seen to the north and east. The weather has been poor for hunting, but several boats have gone out in northern waters.

Kaj Eli Sørensen, from Norðri í Sundi, made a short trip east in recent days and caught 40 birds, mostly razorbills. He said he saw many guillemots, razorbills and puffins, including numerous pufflings. One reason for moving the start of the hunting season back by 20 days was that pufflings were expected to have gone out to sea by October 20.

Tóri Simonsen, another board member of the Hunting and Shooting Association, also went out on October 29 with a companion. They caught many birds in the north, mostly razorbills, and saw many pufflings, which are not usually shot. Ringed razorbills caught by hunters are from Iceland, while ringed guillemots are usually from the British Isles. Faroese guillemots generally arrive close to shore in early January.

A regulation setting out the reporting rules is expected to be published soon. People who shoot birds, catch birds, pull puffins from burrows, take lýri or collect eggs will have to report their catch. They must provide where and when they hunted, the number and species of birds caught, and the number of hunters. For shooting, they must also report how many men carried guns.

Reports will be submitted through the website of Havstovan, the marine research institute. Its director, Marita Rasmussen, said the website should be ready by the turn of the year and that the reporting system will be simple. Havstovan must publish the previous year’s catch figures by March 1, but the first figures will not be published until 2028. The Hunting and Shooting Association already operates a voluntary reporting system on its own website.

The revised rules allow shooting guillemots, puffins, razorbills and cormorants only from October 20, rather than October 1. The end date remains January 20, except that cormorants may be shot only until November 30.