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Update - July
2008
Escambia County
Environmentalist Tim Day reports that Gulf Power is currently removing
all directional lights and shielding the remaining ones along Perdido
Key Drive and Sandy Key.
It will take an
additional 30-45 days to complete. Gulf Power is also contacting private
entities that lease lights to advise them that the enhancement is
available at a rate increase of $1.00 per month. It’s a simple matter of
installing a shield to direct to light downwards rather than into the
sky and changing to a more energy efficient bulb. It’s a win for
everyone, especially the turtle hatchlings.
ARCHIVE
Perdido Key Sea
Turtle
Friendly Lighting Workshop
Thursday, April
10, 2008
Perdido Bay Community Center, 13660 Innerarity Point Road,
5:30pm to 7:00pm
-Presentations begin at 5:45pm
Attend the Sea Turtle Lighting Workshop to learn the newest ways to
safely light your property while reducing excess artificial lighting
that disorients adult and hatchling sea turtles. Grant funds may be
available through the Turtle Friendly Beach Program to purchase turtle
friendly bulbs
and fixtures. The Turtle Friendly Beach Program also provides
recognition for turtle friendly properties through signage,
certificates, and listing on
the website.
For more information contact:
Andrew P. Diller,
850-475-5230
Email:
apdiller@ufl.edu
Florida Sea Grant
Extension
Escambia County University of Florida Extension
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Lights out for turtles!
Brightly lit beaches disorient the nesting sea turtles and their
hatchlings, but beach residents can't be expected to live in the dark,
either. Even the smallest light, such as a porch or deck light, or table
lamp visible through a window can distract the mother or hatchling,
leading them onto a road to be hit by a vehicle, victimized by fire ants
or predators or to suffer from deadly dehydration. Now, there are ways
to coexist with sea turtles, including using turtle friendly light bulbs
available to participants in the Turtle Friendly Beach Program (TFBP).
Here are some
ways beach front property owners can modify lighting to be more turtle
friendly:
Turn off unnecessary
lights. Don't use decorative lighting (such as runner lights or
uplighting of vegetation) in areas that are visible from the beach and
permanently remove, disable, or turn off fixtures that cannot be
modified in any other way.
For lights that can be
repositioned, face them away from the beach so that the light source is
no longer visible.
Shield the light source.
Materials such as aluminum flashing can be used as a shield to direct
light and keep it off the beach. When shielding lights, it is important
to make sure they are shielded from all areas on the beach (including
from either side and on top), and not just from the beach directly in
front of the light. Black oven paint may be used as a temporary
solution.
Light sockets with an
exposed light source (such as plain bulbs) should be replaced with
fixtures that are specially made to recess and/or the light source
should be shielded.
Replace fixtures that
scatter light in all directions (such as globe lights or carriage
lights) with directional fixtures that point down and away from the
beach.
Replace lights on poles
with low profile, low-level lamps so that the light source and reflected
light are not visible from the beach.
Replace incandescent,
fluorescent, and high intensity lighting with the lowest wattage
low-pressure sodium vapor lighting or replace white incandescent bulbs
with the yellow "bug" light variety of 25 watts or less for incandescent
and 9 watts or less for compact fluorescent.
Plant or improve
vegetation buffers (such as sea grapes and other native beach
vegetation) between the light source and the beach to screen light from
the beach.
Use shielded motion
detector lights for lighting, and set them on the shortest time setting.
To reduce spillover from
indoor lighting move light fixtures away from windows, apply window tint
to your windows that meets the 45% inside to outside transmittance
standards for tinted glass (you'll save on air conditioning costs too!),
or use window treatments (blinds, curtains) to shield interior lights
from the beach.
Although not appropriate
for the short-term solutions that are needed immediately, there are
several potential sources of state and federal funding for long-term
lighting improvements.
Photos of Perdido Key Turtle Hatchlings
Sea
Turtle Info
What to do if You Find a Dead or Injured
Sea Turtle
Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission
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