When the hatchlings emerge from their nest, they mainly use their sense of sight to orient towards the sea.

Hatchlings typically emerge after dusk and follow the brighter horizon which is normally the moon reflecting on the ocean surface.

However, the moon is not always the brightest source of light. The two-inch-long hatchlings will crawl toward an artificial light source instead of the ocean. If hatchlings can’t orient to the ocean because of artificial lighting, they will continue to crawl in circles looking for the ocean until they fall prey to predators or succumb to dehydration. Hundreds of sea turtle hatchlings have died over the years in Atlantic Beach due to light pollution.

Light pollution for sea turtles is defined as any broad-spectrum artificial light that can be seen from the beach.

This includes ocean-facing porch lights, pathway lights, pool lights, flashlights, cell phones, and streetlights. Atlantic Beach has some of the highest beach light pollution per square area in North Carolina.

In addition, light pollution causes a loss of suitable nesting habitat for sea turtles because nesting mothers will generally choose darker beaches over more lit beaches. This is why we have had more nesting mothers choose to nest on Ocean Ridge (a mostly darkened stretch of beach) over the Atlantic Beach Circle area.

There have been rare nests close to the circle, however those hatchlings ended up in the street, ran over in parking lots at the circle, and fell into the storm drains and died.

Our volunteer group has experimented with various shade-cloths over the years in an effort to shield the nests from the light pollution that causes such harm. Pictured below is the pathway light of New Bern Beach Access. The light illuminates the beach all the way down to the water instead of being directed only on the pathway where it is needed. The shade-cloths help block out the light but have to be constantly managed by volunteers.

Beach access lights illuminating the beach instead of
being directed on the pathway

The combination of the costly shade-cloths and our diligent all-night efforts have yielded the successful nests that we have had.

One of the Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Project’s Inc goals is to increase the nesting success of sea turtles by mitigating light pollution. We can do this by reducing unnecessary lights and retrofitting problem lights to sea turtle friendly lighting.

Sea turtle friendly lighting emits a narrow spectrum of light, compared to regular lighting which is a broad spectrum. The narrow spectrum of sea turtle friendly lights lessens the impact on nesting and hatching sea turtles. These lights when used properly can meet all regulations for human safety while minimizing the negative effects on wildlife.