Mainland tourists under fire for illegal sea urchin harvest in Sai Kung

As tourists fanned out across Hong Kong during the Labour Day Golden Week holiday, a group in Sai Kung allegedly went beyond snorkeling, poaching dozens of sea urchins for a feast.

The incident came to light when one of the tourists posted on Xiaohongshu, captioned “A sunny day for sailing” under the hashtag of “SeaUrchinsFreedom”.

According to the shared photos, the group's haul is believed to be more than 30 sea urchins of various sizes. One photo featured the poster holding an open sea urchin with a seashore at Basalt Island, while a woman behind him was seen opening more.

The post quickly drew criticism, prompting the poster to delete the post and restrict comments on their account.

The incident was then widely discussed on Threads, where one user wrote, "How dare you act like an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet when you are snorkeling? This is not your personal seafood stall but Hong Kong's natural resources.” Some also described the poster's actions as extremely selfish for destroying the local ecosystem, warning that such actions could be illegal.

Echoing similar sentiments,  some also expressed sadness and helplessness over the city's natural environment, where conservation takes decades of effort but could be destroyed in one day.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓