Sea turtle nesting beaches are essential for species survival. Protecting these sites from development, light pollution, and human disturbance is a high-priority conservation and welfare concern.
Nesting is a physiologically demanding process for sea turtles. Females haul themselves out of water, excavate nests, and lay eggs — all at night, using enormous energy. Disturbance during nesting causes turtles to abort nesting attempts and return to sea without laying, incurring this energetic cost without reproductive success. Light pollution causes hatchlings to move toward fatal inland habitats, where they die of dehydration, predation, or road traffic. Rising sand temperatures from climate change are feminising turtle populations, threatening future reproductive viability. Each nesting beach protected represents dozens of individual turtles' welfare and the long-term survival of entire populations.