Lamma Island beach clean-up for sea turtles draws 2,000 volunteers as sightings of the creatures dwindle
Long queues of volunteers – many of them domestic helpers – headed to Turtle Beach on Sunday to clear plastic and trash that is supposedly preventing sea turtles from laying eggs there
More than 2,000 volunteers braved scorching temperatures on Sunday to take part in a mass clean-up at Sham Wan on Lamma Island.
Known as Turtle Beach, the area is one of a few nesting grounds in southern China for endangered sea turtles, and is closed to the public between June and October – a measure introduced a decade ago to protect the area from human impact.
Drugs and syringes still washing up on Hong Kong beaches
But environmentalists say the situation regarding the sea turtles is dire, with few sightings in the area, and warn rubbish in the area is preventing them from laying eggs. They say turtles are also eating plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish.
Long queues of volunteers formed at the ferry terminal in Central, many of them domestic helpers who were giving up their one day off a week from cleaning homes to help clean the beach.
Organisers say temperatures in direct sun were already at 48.3 degrees Celsius at 9am, as Hong Kong swelters in the hottest month of May since records began in 1963.
