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Belleair Beach lights endanger turtle nests
By DAVE SHELTON
| Article published on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
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BELLEAIR BEACH – Several property owners are being asked to extinguish lights shining on nearby beaches after 9 p.m. to protect sea turtles.
Nesting season for the endangered loggerhead turtles began May 1 and continues through Nov. 1. During this time, females crawl out of the Gulf of Mexico and dig nests in the sand. Then they deposit some 120 eggs that will hatch in 50 to 60 days.
Lights can disorient the mother turtles and the hatchlings that try to find their way to the water by following moonlight reflecting on the water. Bright lights on land have been known to attract the hatchlings to go in the wrong direction, where they are killed by predators or even by cars.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium monitors turtle nests and the lights. Aquarium staffers drive along the beaches at night to spot lights that might affect the turtles.
Nicole Elko, coastal coordinator of Pinellas County Environmental Management, said those patrols recently found four property owners in Belleair Beach violating the rules for night lights. They are:
• Montmartre Condos at 3500 Gulf Blvd., which had floodlights shining on the beach;
• Nautical Watch at 3420 Gulf Blvd., with excessive outdoor lighting;
• Tortugas Del Mar at 2500 Gulf Blvd. with one bright flood light in its pool area that shines on the beach;
• The Belleair Beach Resort at 2040 Gulf Blvd. with outside lighting casting shadows on the beach.
Elko noted that Belleair Beach is the only municipality on the barrier islands with no municipal ordinance regulating night lights on the beach. City Manager Nancy McCollum said she is having an ordinance prepared for consideration by the city council as early as its next meeting, June 2.
Meanwhile, McCollum said Public Works Director Pete Cavalli has enlisted the city’s code enforcement officer, Jack Ouimette, to contact the property owners involved to advise them of the problem.
Elko said violations have been found in virtually every beachfront community. She said any lights that produce a shadow when one is standing on the beach should be turned off after 9 p.m.
The reason for only 38 nests last year, compared to as many as 200 in the past, is unclear, Elko said. Most summers there are around 100 nests on area beaches, she said. Some marine biologists are suggesting the red tide may have played a role in fewer matings or fewer turtles.
Elko said Florida’s beaches are essential for nesting loggerheads.
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Article published on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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