Smaller isles and skerries and other island groups pepper the North Atlantic surrounding the main islands. Some are not geologically part of the Outer Hebrides, but are administratively and in most cases culturally, part of . to the west of Lewis lies St Kilda, now uninhabited except for a small military base. A similar distance to the north of Lewis are North Rona and , two small and remote islands. While Rona used to support a small population who grew grain and raised cattle, is an inhospitable rock. Thousands of northern gannets nest here, and by special arrangement some of their young, known as "" are harvested annually by the men of Ness. The status of Rockall, which is to the west of North Uist and which the Island of Rockall Act 1972 decreed to be a part of the Western Isles, remains a matter of international dispute.