Sea turtles return to the same beaches where they hatched to nest, but increasing development, artificial lighting, and tourism threaten both nesting success and hatchling survival.
Sea turtle nesting requires undisturbed dark beaches with appropriate sand temperature for egg incubation. Artificial lighting disorients both nesting females and emerging hatchlings, leading to exhaustion, dehydration, and predation. Beachfront development has eliminated or degraded significant nesting habitat. Nest predation by dogs, raccoons, and feral pigs is a welfare issue at many sites. Rising sand temperatures from climate change are shifting sex ratios as warmer temperatures produce more females. Hatchlings that reach the ocean face plastic ingestion, entanglement, and boat strikes. Turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawls significantly reduce bycatch mortality. Tourist encounters must be managed carefully to avoid disturbing nesting females.