Sea turtle nesting beaches face threats from coastal development, artificial lighting, and climate change that disorient hatchlings and feminize turtle populations through temperature-dependent sex determination.
Sea turtle hatchlings disoriented by artificial lighting crawl toward roads and hotels rather than the ocean, dying of exhaustion, predation, or vehicle strikes before reaching water. Nests incubating in excessively warm sand produce skewed sex ratios that cannot sustain population balance over time. These are welfare harms that accumulate slowly and are largely invisible to casual observers but are well-documented by researchers. The solutions — beach lighting ordinances, development setbacks from nesting areas, and temperature monitoring of nesting beaches — are available and cost-effective but require political will and community education.