Today’s sea turtle conservationists stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before us, a phenomenon that goes back centuries to the first women and men who ever observed, described, and marveled at these incredible marine reptiles that thousands of us now work so passionately to conserve. Each successive generation has advanced our cause, and along that continuum of humans past and present are influential people of all ages, from all over the world, working in many arenas on countless topics and tasks. Yet, within that spectrum of sea turtle-centric humanity, there are some whose work spans decades, and whose influence and impact has been outsized by any number of metrics. On this page, SWOT begins to spotlight some of these living legends.
Lily Venizelos spent a great part of her youth on the Greek island of Hydra, where as a girl she got into trouble scaring away game birds that her father and his friends had intended to shoot. In 1974, a storm brought her yacht to shelter in Laganas Bay, Zakynthos, Greece, and she was completely enchanted by its pristine beauty. Five years later, she witnessed the invasion of bulldozers and jet skis that came with uncontrolled tourist development.
Read MoreMalaysia’s “Turtle Lady,” Dr. Chan Eng Heng has dedicated her life to protecting sea turtles through scientific research, lobbying, education, outreach, grassroots activism, and art. She has served as a professor at the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, where she has inspired many students over the years, some of whom now hold key turtle conservation positions in Malaysia.
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