Today, sea turtles’ nests are often damaged by local communities and human interventions. From beach erosion caused by coastal armouring to artificial lighting, how communities alter the natural environment has a direct impact on sea turtles’ longevity. Urban glow, caused by artificial lighting, has had a significant impact on the nesting habits of sea turtles and the survival of hatchlings. This is why mitigating the negative effects of light pollution has been a significant area of concern for sea turtles’ conservation. 

While scientists are uncertain about why sea turtles choose to nest on certain beaches over others, they have identified that changes to these habits are a direct result of human activity. Scientists fear that these alterations may have long-term effects on sea turtles’ future survival and may be difficult to prevent unless action is taken now.

A sea turtle is unlikely to abandon their nests when they are laying eggs. However, instead of placing themselves in danger, they will either not lay their eggs at all or choose the ocean or other dangerous places, threatening the survival of young sea turtles. Therefore communities need to create solutions that help sea turtles lay their eggs in their usual habitats.

Once young sea turtles hatch, their surrounding communities pose additional challenges. Young sea turtles orient themselves by identifying the brightest horizon, which often will be the moonlight reflecting off the ocean. However, artificial lighting has made this process extremely difficult. Today, baby sea turtles often mistake artificial light, such as excess lighting from buildings or streetlights, for the ocean, leaving them to die of dehydration from the sun or they are caught by predators such as birds and crabs.

The obstacles that sea turtles face, man-made and otherwise, are so great that only around 1 in 1000 survive to adulthood. Therefore local communities must balance their interests with the needs of the surrounding wildlife.

Reducing the amount of artificial light that is visible from nesting beaches is the first step to reducing light pollution that affects sea turtles. Coastal communities around the world have passed ordinances that require residents to turn-off beachfront lights during turtle nesting season. Unfortunately, these ordinances are not always enforced and don’t address the larger problem of sky glow that occurs near cities.

Other than alerting authorities to hatchlings that have wandered from the beach, there are a variety of different smart lighting solutions that could benefit sea turtle nesting safety. Some of the key solutions SCS have identified that could mitigate the harmful effects of urban glow include:

• turning off lights visible on nesting beaches or use special fixtures to shield the lights from the beach
• reducing lighting levels when no one is around
• using lights that have a yellow or orange glow
• using turtle safe lighting – these red lights emit a very narrow portion of the visible light spectrum, which is less intrusive to nesting sea turtles and hatchlings
• tinting windows that face the beach.