Coastal development has degraded many sea turtle nesting and foraging sites. Buildings, roads and break-walls cause the loss of sandy beaches where sea turtles nest.

Artificial lights near the shore can disorientate nesting adult females and hatchlings. This results in decreased nesting by adults, and increased death rates for hatchlings that often head inland towards the lights and whose critical sea-finding behaviour is disrupted. Download our ‘Sea Turtles and Lights’ brochure from here.

In addition, activities including fishing, trawling, dredging shipping channels, construction of canal housing estates, and bad anchoring practices can degrade important inshore feeding habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs used by sea turtles.