At the request of SEO/BirdLife, the premises of the Clube Náutico de Bajamar, located on the north coast of the island of Tenerife, next to a breeding area for the Cory’s Shearwater, adapted the external lighting of its facilities to reduce the impact of light pollution in seabirds. The club had become in recent years, due to excessive lighting, a black spot for dazzled juveniles to fall into during their exit from the nests – from mid-October to mid-November. In particular, on nights with a new moon, shearwaters use artificial lights as their orientation point of reference, and end up getting disoriented when they fall to the ground.
“The lighting change carried out by the Club Náutico de Bajamar – underlines Javier Romero – is a good example that, when the will is there, it is possible to make a difference, since the technical solutions already exist and are more accessible to all budgets, demonstrating that with the reorientation of its lights and their new placement, that in this case it is not a matter of illuminating less, but of illuminating better. It is a problem that everyone can contribute to solving, from private companies, ordinary citizens or public administrations” .
In this sense, during the LIFE Natura@night project, public lighting will be modified in some pilot areas in the municipalities of Mogán (Gran Canaria) and Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife), reducing the impact of light pollution on biodiversity and on human beings, in addition to to contribute to energy efficiency.
