Town Agrees to Dim Lights to Protect Sea Turtles
Bowing to pressure from federal and state officials, a south Florida town has agreed to dim the lights along its beachfront to protect nesting sea turtles.
Local government along with local businesses in Hollywood will bear the expense of retrofitting or replacing too-bright lights along the Atlantic coast that distract newly hatched turtles from returning toward the sea and instead encourage them to head inland toward potentially lethal vehicular traffic, reports the Sun Sentinel.
The ordinance enacted earlier this month by the City Commission requires compliance by 2015. Had it not been enacted, Hollywood might have had to do without federal and state financial help concerning an eroded stretch of beach.
“We can live with it as long as the darkness doesn’t create more crime,” said restaurant owner Debra Case, who serves as president of the Hollywood Beach Business Association, of the new municipal law. “If we’re going to have less light, we need more police coverage.”
