How You Can Help the Sea Turtle

How you can help with light | Questions

The following list contains things that you can do to help the sea turtle.

• Never approach turtles emerging from the sea or disturb or harass nesting sea turtles.
• Watch nesting turtles by joining one of the many state-permitted turtle walks conducted by experienced guides.
• Watch out for disoriented hatchlings or turtles wandering on the road. If you're near or on the beach, keep outside light off or minimized from May 1 - Oct. 31.
• Be careful while boating to
• avoid collisions with turtles and
• never throw trash in the water or on the beach.
• When you register your boat, you can purchase a sea turtle sticker to support the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Program.
• Become informed about environmental issues and spread the word to others by
• supporting conservation groups that are active in sea turtle issues, such as the Ocean Conservancy, formerly known as the Center for Marine Conservation, as well as The Nature Conservancy and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation
• letting your elected officials know that sea turtle conservation is important to you and
• purchasing sea turtle license plates at local tag offices (proceeds go to the Marine Turtle Protection and Trust Fund and support marine turtle research and protection in Florida).

For additional information on sea turtle resources, see Additional Sea Turtle Resources.

How you can help with light

Lighting concerns

Solving the problems created by artificial lighting on sea turtle nesting beaches requires the understanding of citizens within coastal communities. Reducing the effects of beach lighting requires little inconvenience or compromise of human safety.

Proposed actions

The most direct and complete way to resolve problems for sea turtles caused by artificial beachfront lighting is to eliminate all artificial sources that emit light visible from the nesting beach. Light visible from the beach may include

• light emitted directly from sources
• light reflected by buildings and other objects
• light from interior sources shining through windows and
• light scattered by sea mist.

Unfortunately, eliminating all beachfront lighting is not always practical. Human safety concerns and the magnitude of some lighting problems require some compromise.

Additional contributions

Additional contributions can be made to the

Marine Turtle Protection Trust Fund
Bureau of Protected Species Management
620 S. Meridian Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399.

A beautiful color sticker is available for each donation of $5 or more.

Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about sea turtles.