Featured Image Credit: mypalmbeachpost.com
By Sarah Sharkey
Sea turtle nesting season has officially begun on the coasts of Florida. The season will run from now until October 31st, 2018. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has already started its nightly beach patrols to ensure that these animals can breed successfully.
People are asked to refrain from bothering a turtle while it is nesting. You can feel free to admire a turtle from afar, but getting to close will add unnecessary stress to the turtle’s life.
The aquarium asks that people be mindful of their trash, don’t litter on the beach!
One of the biggest problems these turtles face is light pollution. The turtles rely on the light of the moon to guide themselves back into the water. However, the increase in human lighting inland has created a situation where turtles have started heading further into land instead of back into the water because the lighting has confused them.
If you can, please switch to LED or red tinted lights. Those two options do not seem to affect the turtles’ ability to navigate themselves back into the water.
Finally, flatten your sand castles at night. It is hard enough for turtles to get around on the beach without running into a sandy replica of Cinderella’s castle.
With everyone’s help, sea turtles will hopefully be able to have a successful nesting season.
Learn from my source here.