Should Hong Kong’s geopark introduce a visitor quota after the discovery of dinosaur fossils?

More protective measures should be taken at the site of Hong Kong’s first dinosaur fossils, such as a visitor quota, experts say, amid growing interest among social media users to visit Port Island.

The city’s development minister previously estimated that the island would be closed for further geological research for at least a month, citing the upcoming monsoon season and experts’ hopes that more fossils could be found.

The site is also part of one of two geological regions in Sai Kung designated as a geopark by UNESCO, the UN heritage agency, in 2011.

The Sai Kung Volcanic Rock and Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock regions were later recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015.

Port Island is one of several protected zones in the geopark where landing is “not encouraged” but instead advised to be explored from a distance via boat trips.

“We believe it will take at least a month or even longer to collect samples on Port Island,” Development Minister Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said on Saturday.