Duke Energy Florida, Sea Turtle Conservancy and Clearwater Marine Aquarium Return to Treasure Island

Duke Energy Florida, Sea Turtle Conservancy and Clearwater Marine Aquarium returned to Treasure Island last week to review progress in protecting sea turtles during peak nesting season.

Why it matters

Sea turtle hatchlings are born knowing one rule: head toward the brightest horizon, which on a natural beach is moonlight on the water. Streetlights and beachfront lighting can override that instinct, pulling hatchlings inland towards roads and parking lots instead of the sea.

Solving that problem requires an ongoing combination of solutions, one of them being better lighting to protect the natural instinct of the hatchings while keeping pedestrians and drivers safe.

Treasure Island as a success story

Duke Energy Florida’s outdoor lighting team initiated the wildlife friendly lighting at Treasure Island. Working alongside Sea Turtle Conservancy, the city, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the company piloted its narrow band amber LED fixture in 2021.

STC’s field guidance shaped the design and CMA’s rehabilitation and nesting data has helped partners measure what’s working.

Years later, the three organizations used last week’s event to show how early collaboration has scaled into a growing wildlife lighting program.

Bringing hatchling disorientations downward

For the past four years, a variety of wildlife friendly practices have helped to reduce sea turtle disorientations. More than 240 amber light conversions have occurred along Treasure Island’s Gulf Boulevard and near the beach.

Across Pinellas County, Duke Energy Florida has converted more than 2,000 lights to wildlife friendly fixtures. “We need to work now on our residential areas,” said Carly Oakley, manager, sea turtle conservation program, Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “Whether it be hotels, condos or single-family homes, the next step is to work to switch over white outdoor lights to amber lights.”

What they’re saying

• “Sea turtles see differently than we do,” said Emily Wooley, senior lighting project specialist, Sea Turtle Conservancy. “They’re less attracted to long wavelength lights. The amber lights allow them to go out to the beach as they would navigate normally under our natural lights from the stars and the moon.”
   
• “Amber outdoor lights are basically invisible to a sea turtle,” said Mike Smith, senior products and services manager, Duke Energy Florida. “The amber lights still give plenty of light for pedestrian and traffic safety and help get sea turtles safely to the water.”
   
• “One of the big issues that we have on our beaches is the use of artificial lighting,” said Carly Oakley, manager, sea turtle conservation program, Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “We’ve had turtles negatively impacted by vehicles. So what Duke Energy has done is gone up and down Gulf Boulevard and changed all the street lights to the amber color, which helps reduce disorientation.”

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,500 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida. 

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 55,700 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an energy modernization strategy, keeping customer value at the forefront as it invests in electric grid upgrades and efficient generation resources to strengthen the system and serve growing energy needs.

More information is available at duke-energy.com. Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook for stories about the people and innovations powering its communities.

Sea Turtle Conservancy

Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC), a Florida-based nonprofit organization, is the oldest sea turtle research and conservation organization in the world. STC conducts robust sea turtle research and monitoring programs at several nesting beaches in Costa Rica and Panama; carries out in-water research programs in Florida and Bermuda; offers innovative educational programs focused on sea turtles and their threats; directly reduces the threat of artificial lighting on Florida’s nesting beaches; and engages in advocacy to protect sea turtles and their habitats. STC has an entire program dedicated to mitigating the impacts of artificial lighting on sea turtle nesting beaches. As part of this program, STC has retrofitted more than 365 beachfront properties across Florida since 2010 with wildlife lighting alternatives that utilize long wavelength LEDs, proper shielding, and lower mounting heights that are less disruptive to sea turtles.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working marine rescue center dedicated to inspiring the human spirit through leadership in the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of marine life; environmental education; research; and conservation. CMA is home to the rescued dolphins, sea turtles, river otters, stingrays, and other resident animals. The CMA Research Institute conducts critical field programs on manatees, right whales, and habitat protection. For more than 50 years, CMA has been committed to protecting our oceans and preserving marine species for future generations. For more information, visit Clearwater Marine Aquarium.