Meet Our Two New Sea Turtle Community Leaders!
Adrian de Jesus de Hoyos, Fundacion Tortugas del Mar (Colombia)
is an environmental leader dedicated to conserving natural resources, with a focus on coastal marine ecosystems and animals. He excels at leading teams, fostering collaboration and mutual respect, and fully committing to projects, ensuring their success and sustainability. His interests include community leadership, mangrove restoration, and turtle release.
Adrian has worked with our partner Fundacion Tortugas del Mar since 2016 where he has coordinated and executed sea turtle release and conservation processes in the San Bernardo Archipelago in the Caribbean. He has also done learning exchanges with local experts on sea turtles of the Colombian Pacific and Caribbean, collected biometric data and tagged sea turtles, and has led awareness and education initiatives on the importance of sea turtles on the islet of San Bernardo. Previously he coordinated field activities of the conservation group Ecosabios in the San Bernardo archipelago and also was a research assistant in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, one of the leading nesting beach research programs in the world.
The San Bernardo Archipelago is the most important feeding ground for hawksbill turtles in the Colombian Caribbean. However, although their consumption has decreased in recent years, it remains a threat to the turtles, as does the sale of their shells for making rooster spurs and hawksbill handicrafts in the mainland municipalities near the archipelago. For this reason, Adrian will conduct turtle monitoring in the area and carry out awareness campaigns with local fishermen and children to promote the conservation of sea turtles, with a focus on the hawksbill turtle.
Fundacion Tortugas del Mar has led efforts to reduce the hawksbill shell trade in Cartagena with incredible results, reducing the sale of these products by an estimated 80%. They have been one of the lead partners of our Too Rare To Wear campaign, where they conduct patrols to find these products, train law enforcement, and work with souvenir shops to prevent their sale.
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Wiguidili Crespo, The Leatherback Project (Panama)
Wiguidili is a dedicated marine biologist from the Guna Yala, an Indigenous territory on Panama’s Caribbean coast. She is currently studying at the University of Panama and contributing to sea turtle conservation and community engagement in Guna Yala. Her work includes leading the monitoring, tagging, and environmental education efforts for leatherback turtles at Armila Beach as part of The Leatherback Project's Yaug Galu initiative. Furthermore, she has collaborated with the CONAP Project, supporting research and conservation activities focused on hawksbill and green turtles.
Wiguidili is known for her strong commitment to marine conservation, particularly her community work in Guna Yala, which serves to inspire younger generations to appreciate and protect biodiversity. The Yaug Galu Project is a community-based scientific initiative dedicated to the conservation of the leatherback sea turtle on Armila Beach in the Guna Yala region. It is part of The Leatherback Project and combines the traditional knowledge of the Guna people with scientific research, integrating the active participation of the community in nighttime monitoring, marking and identifying individual turtles, relocating nests, and providing environmental education. This strengthens local capacities for leatherback turtle conservation and ensures that future generations can continue to share the beaches with this species.
The Leatherback Project also partners with Too Rare To Wear to train law enforcement and educate local communities about the illegal trade. Our Billion Baby Turtles program also supports this program with a grant for the first time in 2026.
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