To SOME it is an essential way of life. For others it is a barbaric practice with no place in modern society.

But North Berwick filmmakers Andy Maas and Mike Day didn't join the annual guga hunt � where baby gannets are killed for meat � to pass judgment. They went to make a documentary which was to air on BBC Two last night (Thursday).

The film follows 10 men from Ness � the northernmost part of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides � on their journey to the island of Sula Sgeir, where they spend two weeks living among rocks hunting the young gannets, known in Gaelic as 'gugas', using ancient methods.

The practice has been going on for 500 years but is in danger of dying out.

Andy, 30, who was the film's producer, with 31-year-old Mike the director, was eager for him and his North Berwick High School childhood friend to experience the hunt.

"Mike had made a film about crofting on Skye and we decided to travel up to the Highlands and Islands and look for a story," he told the Courier. "In mid-2009 we stumbled across the story of the guga hunt. It was a happy accident.

"Very few outsiders are ever allowed to go on the hunt or document it so we were very privileged and humbled for them to invite us." So the duo, together with Mike's brother, Matt � an experienced sailor � and other sailing experts in Aaron Sterritt and Will Brown, travelled to the deserted island � 40 miles off the coast of Lewis in the North Atlantic � to witness the hunt first-hand and document it for TV, spending five weeks filming on the island during August 2009.

"The film introduces the issues the people there face," Andy explained.

"The fishing industry [in Ness] is on its knees. There's an influx of outsiders living there now and that's needed but the community, though not in crisis, is at a crossroads.

"We started to understand why the guga hunt is so important. It gives them an identity.

"The body of the film deals with the hunt, the journey and what the guys go through. They're on the island for two weeks and there's hardly one bit of flat land on it. 'Island' is a generous term for that rocky outcrop!

"There's no running water and the hunters sleep in ruins left by monks 1,000 years ago. It's a very, very hard two weeks for these guys to do this back-breaking work: to hunt, kill and process 2,000 gannets in ways passed down from their fathers and grandfathers." Now he's seen the finished product, Andy is delighted with what they created.

"I'm extremely happy with it � it's the film Mike and I set out to make," he said.

"The subject matter is controversial but we're not pro-hunt and we're not anti-hunt, it's just a case of wanting to document this." Director Mike Day told the Courier: "It was a test of endurance. We were dealing with force-nine gales and me and the camera were leaping from a rubber dinghy up against cliffs!

"Being able to sail there myself was one of the main reasons [the hunters] allowed us to make the film. Me and my brother both sailed a lot at North Berwick.

"We did the Sydney to Hobart race but when we got up there the seas were just wild." The hunters catch the baby gannets with nooses on poles and then beat them to death. The Scottish SPCA has labelled the practice "barbaric".

The meat is consumed by islanders and some is exported.

Andy and Mike's documentary, 'The Guga Hunters of Ness' was due to be shown on BBC Two last night (Thursday), 9-10pm.