Building beach hotels and resorts on sea turtle nesting habitat is a major reason for the species decline. Developers and builders don't mean to disturb the turtles but their presence does. One main cause is light. You see, hatching baby see turtles use moonlight reflecting off the water to locate the ocean for the first time. While running for the ocean, these baby turtles are very vulnerable to predators like seagulls, racoons, and coyotes.
Hotels also give off a lot of light.
Sometimes the young turtles mistake the hotel light as moonlight. When they do, they run the wrong direction. A sea turtle which runs the wrong direction has no chance of survival. Fortunately, we are doing something. First, the United States and several other countries have banned the selling and trading of products made from endangered species.