Sea turtle nesting beaches are critical and vulnerable habitats. Artificial lighting, beach driving, and human disturbance cause significant welfare harms during the nesting season.
Sea turtle nesting beaches concentrate welfare harms that are largely invisible — occurring at night, underground, or in the ocean. Hatchlings emerging from nests instinctively move toward the brightest horizon, which in natural conditions is the sea. Artificial lighting reverses this orientation, sending hatchlings toward lethal inland environments. Beach compaction from vehicles can crush entire nests silently. Female turtles disturbed during nesting abort the process and return to sea, representing both a welfare stress and reproductive failure. Simple interventions — light management and beach protection programs — dramatically reduce these harms.