Nesting beaches are the critical bottleneck for sea turtle reproduction. Protection of nesting habitat from light pollution, coastal development, human disturbance and predation is central to sea turtle conservation.
Individual sea turtle welfare encompasses the stresses of nesting - which requires enormous physiological effort and exposes females to dehydration, predation and boat strike - and the risks facing hatchlings that must immediately navigate from nest to open ocean. Disorientation by artificial light causes hatchlings to crawl toward roads and human infrastructure rather than the sea, resulting in exhaustion, dehydration, vehicle mortality and predation. Nest temperature shifts toward all-female cohorts threaten population viability - a multigenerational welfare crisis driven by climate change. Beach protection programmes directly improve both individual welfare outcomes and population persistence.