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Posted on 05/12/2022 in Things to Do

Keep the Lights Out and Save our Turtles


Keep the Lights Out and Save our Turtles

We Keep the Lights Out to Keep Our Sea Turtles Healthy



We Keep the Lights Out to Keep Our Sea Turtles Healthy



It’s no secret that Florida is known for its vast array of wild life. And no, I’m not talking about the fearsome gator or loveable manatees. I’m talking about another one of Florida’s most protected natural wildlife that can be seen abundant in their natural habitats. Let’s chat about one of Florida’s most famous; the sea turtle.

Sea turtles have been coming ashore to lay their eggs along the sandy Florida beaches since before Ponce De Leon arrived. Official nesting season is March 1st to October 31st however the majority of it occurs during the months of June through August. Mother loggerheads crawl up the beach in the twilight hours to dig a hole in the sand and lay their eggs. Using their flippers, they cover the eggs back up, and scoot back into the ocean before the sun rises in hopes the eggs will incubate for the sixty day period, hatch and the baby sea turtles will be able to make the mad dash to the water before getting gobbled up by other animals. 

This might not seem like the most efficient way, however its worked for sea turtles for about 110 million years. Their greatest threat however came around in more recent history, which would be humans. That's right, sea turtles coexisted with dinosaurs and lived through the giant asteroid that slammed into earth killing the dinosaurs but humans are the ones that pose the greatest threat.

Floridians, and the Florida government, take their wildlife very seriously especially with species that are deemed “threatened”. During nesting season, legally, all lights must off off on the beach. That includes flashlights, cell phone lights, headlights in parking lots pointed into the sand, literally all light from the hours of 9pm-5am. Lights disturb the natural environment in which sea turtles lay their eggs and they will not come ashore in lighted environments. You might think “Well there’s plenty of beach stretch so can’t they just go somewhere else where its not lighted?” Sea Turtles, throughout all of the oceans, make long journeys to return to the same specific beach year after year to lay their eggs. Pacific Loggerheads, for example, migrate 7,500 miles yearly between their feeding grounds off the coast of Mexico to Japan to lay their eggs, so disturbing any sea turtles nesting beach on any coast is a major problem.

So how can we view the sea turtles safely, respectfully and with no lights? Luckily, sea turtle nesting season is months long with the peak being June through August. Since there is no light on the beach your eyes will adjust and on a full moon you will have no problem watching (from a respectable distance) a mother sea turtle come ashore, lay her eggs, and return to the ocean. 

So, when you're staying at the Beach in Broward County, be sure to keep the lights out and save the turtles for future generations!  


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