Night falls over Eagle Beach, one of Aruba’s most iconic beaches. Under the moonlight, a sea turtle hatchling moves away from the sea, drawn by the glow of hotel lights. By dawn, volunteers with the Turtugaruba Foundation find several dead hatchlings in the sand. It is not an isolated incident; similar cases have been reported on other Aruban beaches, including Baby Beach and Arashi.
Located off the northern coast of Venezuela, Aruba has become a nesting refuge for four Caribbean Sea turtle species: the leatherback — known locally as tinglar, laúd or driekiel — as well as green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles. But urban and tourism development along the coast has also brought an increase in light pollution, a problem that environmental experts say interferes with these species’ nesting and survival.
Although it may go unnoticed by many beachgoers, artificial coastal lighting disrupts essential biological processes. Adult female turtles rely on natural cues, such as the darkness of the seaward horizon, to choose nesting sites in the sand. Hatchlings, meanwhile, emerge from the nest at night and orient themselves by following the natural reflection of the sky on the sea. Artificial lighting alters both behaviors. Although Aruba has awareness campaigns, voluntary agreements and pilot projects for “turtle-friendly” lighting, the island lacks mandatory regulations limiting light visible from beaches during nesting season.
But artificial lighting is only one of the threats facing sea turtles in Aruba. Habitat loss from coastal construction, the presence of walls and other physical barriers, increased nighttime tourism, water sports and marine pollution — including wastewater discharge — also intensify pressure on these species.
Ecologist Oriana Wouters warns that “the main problem is cumulative: less available beach, more physical obstacles and more human activity reduce the chances of nesting, even in the absence of intense light.”
Gisbert Boekhoudt, director of Aruba’s Department of Nature and Environment, or DNM, echoed that concern, saying that “many beaches no longer offer minimum conditions for turtles, not only because of lighting, but because of the physical transformation of the coastline.” Boekhoudt said the DNM is part of an interagency group working on a coastal management policy for Aruba. That process, he said, could serve as the basis for a legal document that includes construction standards for the coastal zone. Within that group, the DNM focuses on issues related to nature protection, he said.
Rafael Gianni Zurita, a Venezuelan researcher and one of the world’s leading sea turtle identifiers on the iNaturalist platform, said Aruba’s situation is not unusual in the region.
“In many Caribbean and Latin American countries, there are no systematic programs to retrofit coastal lighting; the difference is that some have begun to regulate it,” he said. According to Gianni Zurita, regional experience shows that “technical recommendations work only when they are accompanied by regulation and follow-up.” He also stressed that “the countries that show the best results are those that combine regulation, monitoring and education,” because, in his view, technical recommendations alone rarely produce lasting change.
On Caribbean islands and in countries such as Thailand, Cape Verde and Guatemala, sea turtle protection projects combine scientific monitoring, the involvement of local communities and legal rules that allow lights to be turned off or modified during nesting months.
For example, on the islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, organizations are dedicated to both education and monitoring and are responsible for ensuring compliance with established regulations.
Local Data: Nests in Decline
Every year, about 30 volunteers walk roughly 16 kilometers of coastline daily to monitor sea turtle nests on the island, according to Richard van der Wal, a representative of the Turtugaruba Foundation, an organization active in Aruba since 2003 and affiliated with the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, or WIDECAST. This systematic patrol is carried out in collaboration with the Aruba Tourism Security Patrol, a nongovernmental initiative that helps identify nests and actively protects eggs and hatchlings.
According to the Turtugaruba Foundation, 72 leatherback nests were reported on Aruba’s west coast in 2008. The leatherback, whose scientific name is Dermochelys coriacea, is the largest of the world’s seven sea turtle species. Sea turtles have existed for more than 100 million years, but they are now endangered.
The leatherback does not live in the Caribbean Sea, but in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Every two to four years, females return to the Caribbean Sea to lay eggs on the beach where they were born. They do not lay just one nest per season; instead, they lay one every eight to 12 days, averaging seven nests. They then remain in the waters around Aruba until they are ready to lay their final nest.
“Between 2007 and 2024, there was an average of 110 to 130 nests per year around the island, including the four species [leatherback, green, hawksbill and loggerhead]. That year [2007], we were still seeing a steady presence of females on several beaches along the west coast,” Van der Wal recalled. In 2024, the number fell to 27 nests, while the foundation’s figures show 19 nests in 2025 and four in 2026.
Van der Wal attributes the sustained decline to the increase in artificial light, which disorients females and hatchlings, disrupts nesting sites and increases mortality. “Every new light visible from the beach increases the risk of reproductive failure,” he warned. “Light completely changes their behavior [the turtles’]: some females leave the beach without nesting, and many hatchlings never reach the sea,” he said.
The problem is not limited to hotel areas, he said. It is also evident in Arikok National Park, a protected area. “There is an idea that only big resorts have an impact, but even small, poorly directed light sources can cause disorientation,” Van der Wal said. At Baby Beach, in southeastern Aruba, the recent installation of streetlights in the parking lot led to the deaths of disoriented hatchlings. Near Fisherman’s Hut, in the northwestern part of the island, several turtles have been run over in previous years after straying from their natural route because of nighttime glare.
To mitigate the impacts, Turtugaruba coordinated specific measures with authorities and lodging operators, including JOIA Aruba by Iberostar and Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, to reduce lighting, fence off nests and install barriers that help guide hatchlings toward the sea. “They are partial solutions. They work locally, but they do not fix the underlying problem,” Van der Wal said.
In 2024, Aruba’s electric utility, N.V. ELMAR, installed the first turtle-friendly lights in collaboration with police and environmental organizations.
Audrey Croes, a spokesperson for the company, said, “ELMAR has been working with Turtugaruba for more than 20 years to manage streetlights during turtle [nesting] season, which runs from March to September, and even into November. ELMAR reduces lighting in areas where nests are detected.”
As a result of the initiative, turtles were observed responding positively, placing their nests in the area where the lighting had been changed. According to the Turtugaruba representative, that finding is especially significant because it confirms the project had an impact, reflected in an increase in nests.
“In Aruba, there are streetlights and lighting fixtures installed without any concrete purpose, used only for decorative and not functional purposes. Much of the light is projected into the sky without providing any benefit, but it does cause harm, especially to wildlife,” Van der Wal said. “Tourism activity has a clear impact on sea turtles. Noise, as well as camera flashes and light reflections, causes the animals to become frightened and ultimately leave the beach,” he added.
Van der Wal also said that “nesting seasons are becoming increasingly unpredictable because of storm surges and temperature changes,” which is consistent with warnings from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about the impact of rising temperatures and extreme events on turtle incubation and survival. To illustrate the situation, in 2025, the Turtugaruba Foundation recorded that one hawksbill turtle nest produced only one live hatchling after heavy surf.
Lights, Science and Debate
Coastal light pollution is one of the main threats to sea turtles in the Caribbean. It is defined as the introduction of artificial light in areas where it is not needed. WIDECAST says it is a relatively easy threat to manage if best practices are applied. It is not necessary to eliminate all light, but rather to prevent the source or its glow from being visible from the beach during nesting and hatching season, when a hatchling — whether a bird, reptile, insect or fish — breaks through the egg or cocoon to be born.
In its best practices guide, the organization, made up of experts from across the Caribbean, recommends using long-wavelength, low-intensity light sources, giving priority to low-pressure sodium; lowering the height of lighting fixtures; using directional fixtures and shields; installing motion sensors; and eliminating unnecessary or decorative lights.
WIDECAST also recommends restrictions on hours and zones, blackout curtains that block much of the light, tinted window glass in beachfront buildings and barriers of native vegetation between buildings and the beach. New hotel projects, the organization suggests, should incorporate these criteria from the design stage, and existing properties should conduct annual daytime and nighttime nest inspections. Finally, WIDECAST promotes the adoption of national “sea turtle-friendly lighting” standards or regulations to standardize these measures and make them enforceable.
However, data published on DarkSky’s website indicates that no artificial light is completely harmless: Even amber or red lighting can cause disturbances if it is intense, elevated or produces diffuse glow, the artificial brightness that lights up the night sky when light from cities and buildings scatters in the atmosphere. For that reason, specialists on the issue, including WIDECAST, also say effectiveness depends on a set of technical factors — intensity, height, direction, shielding and hours of use — and not only on the color of the bulb.
“Tourists from the United States, for example, do not understand why Aruba is falling behind on this issue, since they have cases in their country, for example in Florida, where this problem is managed more efficiently,” Richard van der Wal said.
Another determining factor, according to marine ecologist Oriana Wouters, is the loss of available nesting space because of walls and coastal construction.
“We are reducing the physical margin of the beaches. Even if we turned off all the lights, many turtles would no longer be able to access suitable nesting areas,” she said.
“Nests are still recorded on some very brightly lit beaches; the growing problem is that turtles no longer find physical space to come ashore,” said Wouters, who described as striking the absence of a specific regulation in Aruba that can be strictly enforced during the nine months of turtle nesting season.
Comparisons Within and Beyond the Region
In Puerto Rico, light pollution also threatens sea turtle nesting, especially on urban and tourist beaches in San Juan, such as Ocean Park and Condado, where white lights from buildings, businesses and homes can disorient females and hatchlings.
Unlike Aruba, Puerto Rico has a Law for the Control and Prevention of Light Pollution, which includes special areas on beaches used by sea turtles. However, environmental authorities and organizations dedicated to protecting the leatherback, such as 7 Quillas, have pointed to the need to replace white lights with amber, orange or red fixtures, which are less harmful to these species.
Photo by Hilda Benítez | 7 Quillas Grupo Tortugero San Juan
In places such as Florida, ordinances require lighting compatible with marine wildlife and include enforcement mechanisms, which have helped reduce hatchling disorientation, according to Richard van der Wal.
Meanwhile, in countries such as Costa Rica, national parks impose strict restrictions under executive decree on the use of lights during the leatherback turtle nesting season. In Cape Verde, according to Project Biodiversity, or BIOS.CV, lighting regulations and nighttime patrols on the islands of Sal and Boavista have improved hatching success on protected beaches.
Tourism, Tensions and Enforcement
Aruba’s Department of Nature and Environment recognizes the legal protection of sea turtles under the Nature Conservation Ordinance, which prohibits killing, capturing, harming or disturbing them, or collecting their eggs, with penalties that can reach up to two years in prison or steep fines.
The Nature Conservation Ordinance, or Natuurbeschermingsverordening, together with Aruba’s Marine Environment Ordinance, or Marien Milieuverordening Aruba, AB 1980, No. 18, strictly protects these animals. It is prohibited to transport, sell, import or export any sea turtle species, alive or dead, as well as to use their shells to make crafts or jewelry.
The conservation ordinance also encourages people to keep a minimum distance of 10 meters from turtles on the beach, not touch or feed them, avoid artificial lights near nests and not drive vehicles on sand or dunes to protect nests.
Boekhoudt noted that “for example, in Tres Trapi and Baby Beach, some people comment or post on Facebook that they have swum with turtles.” But he also warned that this is prohibited and can result in fines. He added that “if we keep losing nesting beaches, the impact will not be reversible in the short term. If we do not control light and tourism use, some turtle species will simply stop coming.”
The DNM director highlighted the existence of publications such as the “Standard Operating Procedure on Wildlife-Friendly Lighting,” or SOP, developed through collaboration among public and private entities to address the impact of light pollution on local wildlife. However, the scope of these documents is limited to technical recommendations and data collection, without translating into legal provisions that effectively regulate or restrict the amount of light in ecologically vulnerable areas.
In the hotel sector, some establishments have adopted technical measures, while others maintain divergent approaches and tense relationships with environmental organizations, making it difficult to move toward a unified coastal strategy.
Jareth Vermeulen, sustainable alliances manager at JOIA Aruba by Iberostar Hotel, said Turtugaruba maintains an outreach strategy with the hotel sector to offer courses and training. However, Turtugaruba also advocates against the construction of additional hotels. Another local organization, Aruba Birdlife Conservation, has chosen to build partnerships focused on the protection of other endangered species, such as the shoco, an owl and national symbol of Aruba, and the prikichi, a parakeet.
Vermeulen said she trusts that dialogue and cooperation will continue to strengthen in the future and that a point of balance can be reached on issues where there are differences of opinion.
Provided photo | Gilbert Senchi, Aruban sculptor
From Volunteer Work to Public Policy
Today, nest monitoring in Aruba depends entirely on volunteers coordinated by Turtugaruba. They conduct nighttime patrols, identify nests, install protections and record basic hatching data. Although this work is crucial, specialists warn that it cannot replace a robust public policy to protect sea turtles.
For Boekhoudt, the lack of scientific data “limits the ability to anticipate impacts and respond preventively.” He said that without systematic information, it is difficult to evaluate trends, design effective interventions or measure the real long-term impact of light pollution.
“Laws can be enacted, but it is essential to guarantee that they are enforced,” said Nigel Maduro, a scientist and activist specializing in sustainability in the Caribbean. “Enforcement is as important as the rule itself; otherwise, the environmental cost is shifted onto the species,” he added.
For Maduro, without surveillance and monitoring along the coast, “rules remain on paper.”
“We have been fighting for many years, and what is being done now is mitigating the problem so that not all the turtles die, but this is not sustainable. What we are doing now is buying time,” Van der Wal warned. “Without clear and mandatory rules, every season is a race against the clock. The problem grows year after year, and there will come a time when we are no longer here. The goal is for future generations to still have the option of deciding what to do with wildlife: let it die or protect it.”
For the Turtugaruba Foundation representative, reconciling tourism and conservation in Aruba is possible, but it requires political will and concrete action. Without a strong legal framework, scattered initiatives will remain insufficient. Van der Wal argues that protecting sea turtles is not only an environmental issue, but also a sign of responsibility and coherence as a society. The time to act is now, he concluded.
This story was made possible by a grant from the CPI Instituto de Formación Periodística.
This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.
