Hebrides' successful mink project gets three-year extension

EFFECTIVE: Mink trapping has helped Scottish wildlife recover

Focus shifting from trapping to monitoring
September 2011: A project battling the damaging effects of mink on Scotland's wildlife has just been extended for a further three years. The Hebridean Mink Project (HMP) will continue with an emphasis on monitoring until March 2014. This extension has been assisted by a contribution of £36,000 from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CNES).

‘This extra funding from the Comhairle was vital in securing an extension to the project. The Comhairle's continuing support of the project in difficult financial times is very much appreciated,' Iain Macleod, the project manager, confirmed.

Cllr Archie Campbell, chair of the Sustainable Development Committee, said: ‘As the Comhairle has been a partner since the project started and given its success to date, we are keen to see the project meet its aims. We have therefore agreed to continue supporting the project during this final phase.'

It is hoped the population will not recover
The HMP is one of the largest and most complex of its kind anywhere in the world. It uses thousands of traps to catch mink, which are then euthanised. It is now becoming evident that the population of mink has reduced to the extent that individuals are having difficulty finding a mate.

It is hoped the population will not recover in the face of continued intensive trapping.

The reduction in the population now means that the project strategy will change from trapping to monitoring of the area, making use of rafts and tunnels with clay tracking plates. This will allow the targeting of individual animals wherever they are found.

Mink are opportunist predators which catch and eat almost anything and pose a threat to the islands' native wildlife, particularly birds like tern, golden plover, and red/black throated divers.
Almost 1,530 mink have been caught so far.

Arctic tern colonies increased
Areas like the Outer Hebrides rely on wildlife tourism which is reckoned to be worth around £2.5million a year to the local economy. And the mink project helps underpin the economy by creating and retaining 14 full-time trapping jobs.

Monitoring work by RSPB Scotland on local populations of Arctic tern - which fly thousands of miles to migrate to the Western Isles where they raise young - has found some evidence that colonies have increased from six to 26 around Lewis and Harris.

Martin Scott, the local RSPB officer stated: ‘I found 26 colonies of varying size around Lewis and Harris and I have been informed that terns bred again on some of the islands in the sound of Harris. Until recently, we had been down to just five or six colonies. The evidence shows that this species is showing a positive response to mink removal.'