Hong Kong’s conservationists want government to expand restrictions around Sham Wan in hope endangered green turtles will return home to nest
Proposals from environmental group include closing the beach for seven months of the year and keeping boats away from the area
When Hong Kong officials decided to close off Sham Wan beach for five months every year, the hope was the endangered green turtle would return to nest in peace.
A decade has passed since the moratorium was imposed to combat the effect humans had on the turtles’ natural environment, but the situation remains dire.
Since 2008, just one turtle has been observed nesting there, in 2012, and no sightings of nesting green turtles have been recorded since, apart from one on Lantau Island two years ago.
However, conservationists insist that not all is lost. In April last year a healthy female green turtle was caught on camera swimming around Sham Wan.
