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Skuas are amongst the most-studied animals in the Antarctic and subantarctic regions. This report documents human impacts across the range of natural environments occupied by skuas in the Southern Ocean. Increases in their populations are shown in response to station garbage, introduction of exotic prey species and as a result of human perturbations of the marine environment. Population reductions are being effected by direct destruction, the exclusion of birds from breeding grounds as a result of construction, agriculture or other human activity, or indirectly through reductions in local prey availability. These gross effects are compounded by the isolated nature of many of the ecosystems, which may recover only slowly or stabilise in different forms altogether.