Beak tax to control predatory birds in the Faroe Islands

Abstract

A beak tax was levied in the Faroe Islands from 1742 until 1881. Every man between the ages of 15 and 50 was obliged each year to submit to the authorities one raven's beak or two beaks of a crow, great skua or greater black-backed gull. A fine was imposed if a man failed in this obligation. The tax was repealed in 1881, after which men were paid for the beaks, and records of the beaks exist until 1934. A total of about 800 beaks submitted annually did not appear to deplete the bird populations, however the increasing human population from around 1800 increased the pressure on the bird populations which then declined rapidly from around 1850. A brief increase in the number of beaks occurred after 1881 when men were paid for the beaks and after that time the populations declined again. The population of crows declined more dramatically than the raven population while the great skua had declined to four breeding pairs when it was protected in 1897. The number of beaks submitted is correlated to the island size, the habitat index and the number of sheep. The smack fishery from the 1880s resulted in a better economy and better survival of the ewes in the lambing season which led to less interest in shooting the four bird species that predated on lambs. The bird populations have recovered even though the Faroese are still allowed to hunt them all the year round.