GULF SHORES — As one of the final features in Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism's Winter Showcase series, a presentation was held Feb. 19 on how the community assists sea turtles nesting on Alabama's Gulf Coast.

Chandra Wright, director of environmental and educational outreach at The Lodge and Learning Campus at Gulf State Park, spoke on initiatives like Share the Beach and Leave Only Footprints and how they are important to the safety of nesting sea turtles and sea turtle eggs.

With seven species of sea turtle in the world and five of them found in the Gulf, Wright focused primarily on the three types of sea turtles that are known to nest in Alabama: loggerheads, Kemp Ridley's and green sea turtles.

Loggerheads are the "No. 1 species that nest in Alabama," Wright said.
She said this turtle grows to be about 3 feet in length and can weigh around 300 pounds. Loggerheads prefer to nest at night.

"You're not likely to see one of these unless you happen to be on the beach overnight," Wright said. "Nesting season is May 1 through the end of August, so right now if you see a sea turtle on the beach it's probably sick or injured, probably a little chilly."

Wright said to call 866-SEA-TURTLE (866-732-8878) for any turtle sighted on the beach as "it probably shouldn't be there."

Kemp's Ridley is the "smallest and most endangered of our sea turtles." They grow to about 2 feet in length and weigh around 200 pounds. Kemp's Ridley turtles nest during the day and afternoon.

"If you're going to see one in the daytime nesting, it's going to be a Kemp's Ridley," Wright said. "We don't get a lot of these nests in Alabama. We usually get maybe two to four nests every year from the Kemp's."

Wright said Kemp's Ridley are most found along the coast of Texas and Mexico and normally nest together in large groups.

A "fairly recent addition to Alabama's nesting sea turtles," green sea turtle nests are rare but not impossible to find on Alabama beaches with a total of six nests in both 2022 and 2023, according to Wright. They grow to be about 4 feet long and weigh around 400 pounds. This type of sea turtle prefers to nest at night.

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Because of the amount of threats sea turtles face as they grow up, Wright said it has been estimated that 1 out of 1000 hatchlings make it to adulthood.
"I call them the chicken nuggets of the ocean," Wright said. "Everything likes to eat sea turtles, particularly when they're small."

Natural threats include predators, storms and fungal/bacterial infiltration. Predators include ghost crabs, foxes, birds, racoons and people. Storms impact nests through flooding as "sea turtle nests can deal with some water" but are not designed to "sit in water for a long time." Infection can cause a single egg to stop developing, but it won't likely spread among eggs.

"This is not why the volunteer program exists. We exist to mitigate the man-made obstacles," Wright said.

Human threats include debris left on the beach, development leading to a loss of habitat and the use of distracting lights that disorrient turtles from where they are supposed to nest and where the water is.

Debris can deter a sea turtle from nesting as the mama turtle gets spooked after bumping into an object like a tent or beach chair and "scare them right back to the Gulf."

Starting in 2016 to combat debris left on the beach, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Gulf State Park created Leave Only Footprints. Wright said this program helped put an end to beachgoers "staking out camp for a week" on the beach by leaving tents, chairs and toys without removing them at night. Wright said some visitors who would "camp out" would decide not to bring beach accessories home after vacation, "so they just leave it."

"Our beaches were unsightly. It was a safety hazard as our first responders didn't have a clear path to get through on their ATVs and first responder vehicles," Wright said. "… We're grateful we no longer have that problem."

Wright said Fort Morgan is not included in the City of Gulf Shores as it belongs to the county, which is not a part of the Leave Only Footprints initiative. Because of this, Wright said volunteers of Share the Beach and other similar environmental programs "work extra hard" spreading information about the environment sea turtles need for nesting.

Another human threat Wright mentioned raising awareness of was digging holes and not filling them back in. "Turtles only move forward," so they will get stuck if they fall head-first into a hole. With a 200–400-pound turtle getting stuck in a hole, "it's going to take a whole lot of people to lift it out."

Wright said the cities have ordinances "prohibiting the digging of holes more than 12 inches." However, "it still happens."

The next human threat Wright spoke about was development.

"Sea turtles do return to the same beach that they were born on," Wright said. "Don't ask me what kind of GPS navigation system that is, but it's pretty impressive."

However, their home beaches "may look a lot different 20 years later." Sea turtles, Wright said, are looking for a "dark, quiet nesting beach." Because of this bright, white lights from condo units can pose as dangers to sea turtles. Wright said, "lights are the reason Share the Beach exists."

RUTH MAYO / GULF COAST MEDIA Chandra Wright demonstrates turtle friendly lighting using a tool created by Gulf Shores City Schools where viewers can look through a film card to "see like a sea turtle."

"Sea turtles are looking for the brightest part of the horizon to cue them to get back to the Gulf," Wright said. "If we didn't have this development on our beaches with all these white lights, the brightest part of the horizon would be over the water."

She said this is even the case when the moon or stars are blocked by clouds or not at their brightest. But with white light coming from buildings, or "even sky glow," which is general lighter skies coming from cities called light pollution, the sea turtles will aim for the wrong direction.

Wright said Share the Beach works to protect nesting turtles and encourage the use of turtle-friendly lighting, or no light at all, along the beach. She said the program also encourages visitors and residents on the beachside to close blinds facing the beach to decrease the light from inside buildings.

According to Wright, sea turtle friendly lighting is from amber to red wavelength bulb. This type of lighting is encouraged on exteriors of beachfront buildings and is used on state park beach access boardwalks and The Lodge at Gulf State Park. Wright said The Lodge also has tinted windows to reduce "the white light being broadcasted out."

"One of the things I like about using this type of lighting is it's way friendlier for us people," Wright said on the turtle-friendly light. "It's more attractive. It gives you a much better ambiance than that harsh white light at night. It also helps our circadian rhythm system where we're not blasted with all this white light right before we go to bed."

Wright said this type of light also "helps your night vision" as it allows the use of peripheral vision along the beach. A white flashlight "only allows you to see what's in that light."

Share the Beach works to monitor and conserve sea turtle nests, Wright said, while operating under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The volunteer team gathers data, searches for and identifies sea turtle tracks, locates and marks nests and stays involved in educational outreach.

According to the website for the Alabama Coastal Foundation (ACF), which is over Share the Beach, community support and assistance for the program can be given through donations, including Adopt-a-Nest Sponsor opportunities with zones available to be sponsored or single nest or hatchling sponsors. More information on Share the Beach and assistance opportunities can be found at www.joinacf.org/stb.

Wright said other ways to support include becoming a member of ACF, install turtle-friendly lighting on beachfront properties, post signs and magnets in rental properties so visitors can be informed, attend Connect to Your Coast events through ACF and give ACF/Share the Beach merchandise as gifts. She also mentioned how volunteering is another way to support.

Volunteers undergo training starting in April, and morning nest patrols begin on May 1. They are expected to work 2-6 hours per week minimum in sea turtle conservation, searching and monitoring. Junior volunteer opportunities are also available for those under the age of 18.

Wright said anyone who is a full-time resident interested in becoming a new volunteer for Share the Beach can attend one of their upcoming volunteer kickoff meetings with the Baldwin County coastline being covered at 6 p.m. on March 18 at the Erie Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores and the Dauphin Island coastline covered at 6 p.m. on March 20 in the Shelby Auditorium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Registration opens after the meetings.