Red Beams Matter

by Mason Stewart

On a balmy summer evening a few years ago, my family and I were walking along the beach on Jekyll Island near the old picnic grounds by the south end, when my grandson Zachary pointed out a small black rock that seemed to be moving. We all stopped to stare at this little “rock.” Indeed, it was moving! And several other little “rocks” were slowly surrounding us. When I turned on the red LED “Turtlesafe™ flashlight that I had invented several years earlier, we could see that they were baby turtles, coming up out of the sand like hundreds of miniature zombies escaping the grave. They were clawing their way out of a hidden nest buried sixty days earlier by their mother, a 300-pound loggerhead sea turtle. We were privileged to be witnessing one of the most rare and amazing sights a beachcomber can encounter: what locals call a “boil,” the actual hatching of buried sea turtle eggs from the nest. Transfixed, we watched in silent wonder as the turtle hatchlings, exhausted by their efforts to dig their way out of the covered nest, instinctively headed for the safety of the ocean as fast as their little flippers could flip.

As we watched though, some of the hatchlings, instead of following their brothers and sisters toward the surf, struck out down the beach toward the light cast by a bright spotlight that had just come on and was heading our way. Zachary raced up to the group with the light, breathlessly explaining that they needed to turn the light off because sea turtles, including newborn hatchlings will instinctively crawl toward and follow the white beams. Parroting an earlier conversation that I’d had with him, he told them scientists are not exactly sure why, but the attraction to the light seems to have something to do with the way the turtles locate the ocean at night. The relative brightness of night sky, the oceanic horizon, and possibly even the white surf seems to trigger ancient cues that instinctively beckon the turtles to the safety of the sea. But, when a white light is brighter than these natural cues, it overwhelms the ancient instincts and, like the Sirens of ancient mythology, lures the hatchlings to certain death. Certain death, because the little turtles will continue to follow the light, even when it leaves the beach. Eventually the exhausted hatchlings get lost in the dunes or end up stranded on the beach when the sun rises, making them easy meals for hungry birds and other patrolling predators.

Upon hearing about the dangers of white lights on the beach and actually observing the baby turtle’s abnormal behavior, the group doused their bright light and sat down with us to watch the hatchings emerge. My grandson also explained that, as much as one would like to, it was important NOT to help the struggling hatchlings emerging from the sand or to carry them down to the water. The baby turtles need the “birth struggle” and challenge to strengthen their body for the long dangerous swim out beyond the predator-infested shallows to the relative safety of deeper water where they can hide among floating mats of sargassum weeds.

While we talked quietly and watched the hatchling makes their trek, I showed them my red LED flashlight and told them how I came to develop it. I explained to our new friends that I grew up in the Golden Isles and had first became acquainted with sea turtles while working as a lifeguard on the very same beach during the late 1950s. Back then, there were almost as many turtles as tourists. After retiring and moving back to the Golden Isles in 2005, I reacquainted myself with the big gentle creatures while visiting the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. It was there that I learned of a unique problem the endangered turtles have when nesting on popular beaches. The problem is not so much curious tourists, but their flashlights, which emit white, short wavelength light. This short wavelength light from standard lights seriously disorients both adult sea turtles and hatchlings, causing nesting females to abandon nest sites before laying eggs, and confusing hatchlings to such an extent that their chances of getting safely from the beach into the ocean are severely diminished. of their flashlight and the rubber bands with which they secured them were often being carelessly discarded on the beaches, I decided I’d try to design an environmentally acceptable flashlight that would provide enough “people safe” light to be used on beaches at night, but emit a red (long wavelength) “turtle safe” light beam that does not disturb nesting sea turtles or their hatchlings. After testing several prototypes, I submitted my newly developed flashlight to the Imperilled Species Management Section of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, in Gainesville for testing. Several weeks later, I received a certificate stating: “Our review of the light output from the red LED flashlight indicates no short wavelength of light [is emitted] that is disruptive to sea turtles.” When used in accordance with included recommendations, the flashlight was safe for wildlife viewing. Thus the Certified Turtlesafe™ flashlight was born.

Since its development after my first visit to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center back in 2010, that little red beam Turtlesafe™ flashlight has slowly but steadily helped to reduce the presence of environmentally disruptive white beam lights on many of Georgia’s and Florida’s most popular beaches, hopefully ensuring a more promising future for the species. So, if that little moving rock my grandson spotted on that balmy summer night a few years ago was a female turtle and she makes it through another 30 years or so of wandering in our vast oceans before returning to her birthplace here in the Golden Isles, hopefully those worrisome lights that may have confronted her mother and confused her brothers and sisters will only be a distant memory. The Certified Turtlesafe™ flashlight is available locally at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, J.C. Strother Co. on St. Simons Island, and online at onlineturtlesafe.com.