Authorized Dealer - Turtle Certification
CFS Lighting Specialist is proud and excited to be an authorized dealer that participates in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s 2016 Wildlife Lighting Certification process. We have several models of LED lights that are approved and turtle certified including color lighting in red, orange or amber LED (true red, orange or amber diodes, NOT filters) and true red neon! Now we are able to ensure that we are respecting the ecosystem while also providing our customers with top of the line LED lighting products.
Artificial lighting on marine turtle nesting beaches disrupts the ability of hatchlings to find the sea from their nest, an effect termed “hatchling disorientation.”
Disorientation from artificial lighting causes thousands of hatchling deaths each year in Florida and is a significant marine turtle conservation problem.
Hatchlings that crawl toward artificial light sources are following the same instinctive response that leads them seaward on naturally lighted beaches. The apparent brightness and glare of artificial lighting is what often leads hatchlings astray. To a hatchling on a beach, an artificial light source appears bright because it is relatively close by, yet it is not intense enough to brighten the sky and landscape. The resulting glare makes the direction of the artificial source appear overwhelmingly bright-so much brighter than the other directions that hatchlings will ignore other visual cues and move toward the artificial light no matter where it is relative to the sea.
Sea turtle hatchlings have an inborn tendency to move in the brightest direction. On a natural beach, the brightest direction is most often the open view of the night sky over, and reflected by, the ocean. Hatchlings also tend to move away from darkly silhouetted objects associated with the dune profile and vegetation. This sea-finding behavior can take place during any phase and position of the moon, which indicates that hatchlings do not depend on lunar light to lead them seaward.
