Turtle hatchlings & lighting on Beach
Published on Aug 5, 2013 (101)
Sea turtles are one of many groups of animals that are under threat of extinction in the Cayman Islands and world-wide. While sea turtles spend the majority of their lives in the ocean, during the nesting season from May to November female turtles make their way on shore to lay their eggs and hatchlings emerge from their nests. The Cayman Islands sea turtle nesting population was once one of the largest in the Atlantic, numbering in the many millions. After discovery, commercial harvesting by visiting ships led to a massive reduction and by the mid-1900s our sea turtle populations were thought to be extinct. Comprehensive monitoring of nesting populations by the Department of Environment (DoE) began in 1998. This monitoring showed that leatherback nesting was indeed extinct but extremely small numbers of green, loggerhead, and hawksbill turtles persisted. Since that time, hawksbill nesting has continued to hover at the edge of extinction but loggerhead and green turtle nesting has recently begun to show a dramatic increase. Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of recorded turtle nesting locations on Grand Cayman. There are also active nesting beaches in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
Both the nesting and hatching process greatly influence sea turtle populations and are both affected by nesting beach conditions. One of the biggest threats to this process is the presence of lighting shining onto beaches used for nesting.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands - TURTLES NESTING
