Tourists are stealing St Kilda

Published on Tuesday 11 August 2009 21:59

SOUVENIR hunters determined to take more than just memories home from a trip to St Kilda are stripping the remote island group of its natural assets.

The archipelago is attracting a growing number of cruise ships, with 24 arriving already this year – six more than last year – and a record 5,000 passengers visiting the World Heritage Site.

But it is becoming a victim of its own popularity and the National Trust for Scotland has warned those who take a bit of St Kilda away to end the practice.

Among the mementoes being pocketed are stones from ancient structures and fleece shed by the islands' primitive Soay sheep, depriving Europe's most important seabird colony of their natural nesting material.

Ian McNee, the trust's seasonal ranger, said: "People take whatever they can get their hands on. There are a lot of old stone structures, stone was the main building material here and people like to take little bits from a wall.

"Most of the walls date from the early 1800s and some are even earlier than that.

"It's always been a bit of a concern, but with the increase in visitors, people taking just a little bit ends up as quite a lot."

Mr McNee talks to visitors when they arrive about the importance of not taking anything away from the island.

He said: "It's just 1 per cent of people, but with the enormous rise in visitors even 1 per cent is too much. It's irresponsible."

He added: "People take things they assume won't be too important, but they can be. It's a very primitive sheep here and it moults – and people take the wool from the ground, which is valuable for the nesting birds. It's all part of the system."

Susan Bain, the trust's Western Isles manager, said the situation was not a major problem at present, but it could become an issue if the islands were left unmanned under plans by the Ministry of Defence to downgrade missile test base there.

She said some artefacts had been "liberated", adding: "I wouldn't call it theft and our visitors probably believed they were merely taking souvenirs. As the impression of St Kilda has risen in the Scottish psyche so we have to tell people that helping themselves to the limited natural resources and the heritage is no longer acceptable."

The archipelago is the remotest part of the British Isles, lying 41 miles west of Benbecula. It is thought the islands had been inhabited since the Bronze Age.

Residents had little contact with the mainland until the mid-19th century. The arrival of tourists in steam yachts began a gradual loss of self-sufficiency as islanders became more dependent on the outside world.

Hit by mass emigration, food shortages and an outbreak of influenza, the islands' economy broke down and the last inhabitants were evacuated in 1930.

A new breed of tourists now visit the site, one of only 25 in the world with dual World Heritage Site designations for natural and cultural attractions.

St Kilda is Europe's most important seabird colony, and one of the major seabird breeding stations in the North Atlantic. It includes the world's largest colony of nesting gannets and the largest colony of fulmars in the British Isles.

The rise in tourism has led Western Isles Council to propose a St Kilda visitor centre.

However, because of the remoteness, a feasibility study will look for a possible site elsewhere in the Western Isles.