LED beach lights for Turtles

New lighting has been put in place to help sea turtles.

The Turtle Hospital in Townsville, Australia are hoping that new LED lighting will stop baby turtles from getting lost.

The LED lights are more directional and should therefore reduce light pollution on the beach. They will also use 60% less energy than the original lamps.

The Sea Turtle Conservancy recommends low lumen LED lighting which emits long-wavelength light in the yellow/orange spectrum. Bright lighting can deter nesting females who want private environments for laying eggs.

Light pollution can be dangerous for turtle hatchlings as the small animals mistake the artificial light for the moon over the water. Reef HQ Aquarist, Krystal Huff, said:

Over a few hours [the hatchlings] are going to walk around in circles, use a lot of energy that they need for getting out into the deeper ocean, and it also exposes them to more predators on the beach. If they want to turn their lights off – or reduce the amount of lighting outside during nesting and hatching seasons that could actually have a dramatic effect.

She added:

Human activity around [the mother] can disturb her and stop her from nesting that night, which is a lot of energy for her to come up to the beach to try to nest and then to turn around and go back.