"The Green turtle nesting season has run from June to October in the past but numbers returning have dropped to perilously low levels in recent years. Ever since 2003, no Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) have nested at the Sham Wan beach on Lamma Island, which is the only site where Green turtles have nested regularly in recent decades. "
Source: WWF Hong Kong e-News 31st May
WWF also requests the following actions to encourage Green turtles to return
- Support WWF's Save our Seas (SOS) campaign to prevent our marine ecosystem, where marine turtles rely on, from collapsing.
- Beach visitors, divers etc should avoid disturbing any marine turtles in the water or at beaches identified for marine turtle nesting, i.e. Sham Wan and Tai Long Wan, as a passive effort to encourage turtles coming back to Hong Kong for nesting.
- Report any sightings to AFCD by calling 1823 during this coming June to October nesting period!
2 comments:
I had no idea that Turtles ever came to Hong Kong. I really do hope that they return, but have a feeling that people would scare them off before they would consider nesting.
Are there any sign posts on the beaches advising visitors about the turtles and what to do or what not to do?
Cheers/Peter
Hi Peter
Yes, I was also very surprised about this, I only discovered this fact last year.
I have created an additional post to answer your very good question. It would seem that a lot is done by the AFCD and volunteers from the Hong Kong Wetland Park (Side comment:a great facility) however no nestings in the three seasons.
Unfortunately much is out of the control of the AFCD, the turtles only spend a limited amount of time in Hong Kong waters. One nesting turtle from Hong Kong was tracked in 2002 and found to almost immediately migrate to Hainan Island and probably to Vietnam. Who knows what fate awaits them there...
Guarding and setting up a protected beach in Hong Kong is an important conservation measure, but not the whole picture, I feel...
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