Nesting beaches are irreplaceable for marine turtle reproduction. Protecting these sites from development, light pollution, and human disturbance directly improves turtle welfare and survival.
Hatchlings disoriented by artificial lighting crawl exhausted toward roads and parking lots, where they die of dehydration, predation, or vehicle strikes. Nesting females disturbed by beachgoers or vehicles may abort nesting attempts, causing the welfare cost of an unsuccessful nesting migration of thousands of kilometres. Incubating eggs in overheated sand produce hatchlings with metabolic deficits. The concentration of reproductive effort on specific beaches means that local threats — development, lighting, vehicles — have enormous consequences for individual turtles and populations.