DARKER BEACHES, BRIGHTER FUTURESREDUCING LIGHT POLLUTION ON SEA TURTLE NESTING BEACHES

Karen Shudes, David Godfrey, Gwen OberholtzerSea Turtle Conservancy

Each year in Florida tens of thousands of sea turtle hatchlings are disoriented by poorly managed beachfront lights. To address this problem, Sea Turtle Conservancy applied for and received grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to implement a program that increased sea turtle hatchling survivorship on Florida’s high-density nesting beaches by correcting problematic lights on private properties with histories of causing sea turtle disorientations.

The latest technologies in “sea turtle friendly” lighting were used to effectively reduce and manage exterior lighting at over 80 multi-family properties and businesses, which effectively darkened over 10 miles of prime sea turtle nesting habitat.

Monitoring of nesting at project sites following lighting retrofits showed significant decreases in sea turtle disorientations, resulting in the safe emergence of thousands of hatchlings each year that otherwise would have been disoriented by lights.

By following simple turtle-friendly lighting concepts to eliminate light pollution, coastal communities around the world can effectively reduce disorientations and save thousands of newborn sea turtles each year.

Mount fixtures as low to the ground as possible to avoid being seen from the beach and use the lowest amount of light (lumens) needed.

Use fully shielded fixtures that direct light down to the ground. Shield fixtures so you cannot see the bulb, lamp or glowing lens from the beach.

Sea turtles are less disturbed by long wavelength light (>580 nanometers),such as a red or amber LEDs

*Sea turtle lighting retrofits were completed after the 2010 nesting season.

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