Spotlight Returns to Sea Turtles
Aug. 24–Sea turtles are slow on land but efforts to protect them move with lightning speed.
The Caribbean Conservation Corp. & Sea Turtle Survival League, an advocacy organization in Gainesville, is pleading with Bay County commissioners to not overturn a lighting ordinance aimed at preventing hatchling disorientation. With announcements on its Web site that the board will vote on rescinding the measure at its Sept. 6 meeting, people as far away as California have sent e-mail to commissioners with the same request and concerns.
But the County Commission is not considering abandoning the ordinance, which went into effect in May 2003, said county landuse attorney Terrell Arline.
“They’ve broadcast that mistake,” Arline said of the Caribbean Conservation Corp. “The board directed me to look into all aspects” of sea turtle light ordinances.
Arline said he will not have a recommendation for the County Commission until October or November because of the time it takes to contact regulatory agencies and analyze information.
New beach construction has turtle-friendly lighting in its design, so only existing structures are the focus of re-examining the ordinance, Arline said. Particularly, he is trying to determine whether there are pole lights taller than four feet that have the right color and shield to adequately protect turtles. He said an official with the state Department of Environmental Protection said there is such a light.
The county ordinance prohibits pole lights taller than four feet and does not allow lights on dune walkovers. Arline said he has heard from several agencies that dune lighting is not problematic for turtles.
Philip Griffitts Jr. with Sugar Sands Motel on the west end, said previously that he has had difficulty finding pool lighting that complies with the ordinance and meets safety regulations.
One of the harshest e-mail messages to commissioners is from Melbourne resident Linda Archer.
“You were not there first, they were,” she wrote, referring to the sea turtles. “You are the ones interfering in their life cycle. You have no right not to protect them. If you don’t want to deal with them, move away.”
In May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Panama City field office released results of the 2004 nesting season. Within the ordinance area — which includes five miles of unincorporated beach from Panama City Beach’s western border to the Walton County line — 38 percent of newborn sea turtles moved toward artificial light instead of the ocean, a migration called disorientation. The move almost always means death. In 2003, 47 percent of sea turtles became disoriented.
The ordinance’s success spurred some residents to request that the ordinance be extended to the remaining five miles of unincorporated beachfront. Among those rooting for an all-encompassing restriction on beachfront lighting is Kennard Watson, director of Turtle Watch, a St. Andrew Bay group that is under contract with Bay County to monitor nesting and female turtle tracks.
“I welcome the opportunity to make my case to the commission,” he said. “I feel like we have the evidence on our side.”
It’s only fair, he said, to enact the ordinance for all west-end businesses instead of only a targeted area.
Watson does not support an idea mentioned by a commissioner several months ago to relocate turtle eggs shortly before they hatch to a remote location with no light, such as Shell Island.
“We want to minimize handling, and anytime we relocate a nest, we can do damage,” he said.
Moving the nests, he said, won’t advance Turtle Watch’s two main goals: reducing hatchling disorientation and increasing the number of nests laid.
Since the sea turtle breeding season began May 1, there have been 21 nests laid, which on average contain 100 eggs, according to Watson. The season ends Oct. 31.
—–
To see more of The News Herald — including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings — or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsherald.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.