Greenpeace says golden week visitors damaged marine life at Hong Kong geopark

Centre · 2Greenpeace said on Tuesday 6 October that it recorded around 100 incidents in a single day of visitors catching sea cucumbers and digging up sea snails and clams at a popular spot in Hong Kong's Unesco-listed geopark during National Day "golden week". 1 2 Centre · 2Between 1 and 5 October the group ran field surveys at Sai Kung hotspots, including Hap Mun Bay, the Po Pin Chau section near the East Dam and Long Ke, to count visitors and record damaging behaviour. 1 2 Centre · 2An inspection on 4 October recorded 3,010 visitor arrivals at Hap Mun Bay, at the southern end of Sharp Island (also called Kiu Tsui Chau), and more than 100 incidents of visitors collecting marine life or coral remains, including catching live sea cucumbers, using metal tools to dig out sea snails and clams, and picking up coral skeletons. 1 2

Centre · 1At 3pm that day as many as 23 visitors were digging at the same time, with no officers seen patrolling or intervening, the group said. 1 Centre · 2Greenpeace also said the Po Pin Chau section of the High Island Geo Trail was strewn with rubbish on a separate day, and that at nearby Long Ke Beach it recorded nearly 90 instances of damaging behaviour, including climbing trees, littering and disturbing wildlife. 1 2 Centre · 2Greenpeace campaigner Ha Shun-kuen said the extra funding and manpower for golden week had failed to contain the damage, calling enforcement that follows exposure of overcapacity at individual spots a piecemeal "painkiller" approach that does not tackle overtourism at its source. 1 2

Centre · 2Those measures included deployment by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) of more than 100 personnel to hiking and tourist hotspots, and a reservation system at Po Pin Chau; a real-name booking system for Po Pin Chau was launched in August. 1 2 Centre · 2Greenpeace noted that the government's proposed marine park boundaries cover only the eastern and western sides of Sharp Island, excluding Hap Mun Bay, whose waters support coral communities, and warned that concentrating enforcement inside the park could push crowds to the bay. 1 2 Centre · 2The group said only seasonal closures of the Po Pin Chau trail for restoration would effectively protect the environment, and urged the government to assess and cap visitor capacity at all countryside hotspots immediately and, longer term, adopt a conservation-first ecotourism policy with routine monitoring of visitor impact. 1 2

Centre · 1The report follows similar findings last October, when Greenpeace documented tourists digging up sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, conches and clams on an overcrowded Sharp Island, along with littering, illegal cooking fires and trampling of coral; the AFCD has previously run golden week enforcement there, and the South China Morning Post said it had contacted the department for comment. 1