Featured sessions & invited speakers

Below are descriptions and invited speakers and panelists for the four featured sessions that will be held during the 44th International Sea Turtle Society Symposium.

The featured sessions at the 44th International Sea Turtle Society Symposium are intentionally designed to serve as a catalyst for reflection, dialogue, and change within the conservation community. With lead support from Wild Earth Allies, leveraged alongside contributions from additional partners, the plenary program elevates Indigenous leadership, engages with complex and sometimes contested conservation questions, and invites the field to critically examine how sea turtle conservation is evolving in a rapidly changing world.

For quick reference, here are the session dates and times:

  • Opening Ceremonies – Tuesday, March 3rd, 8:30am–10:00am
    Opening blessing (oli) and invited speakers

  • Plenary 1 – Tuesday, March 3rd, 10:30am–12:00pm
    Pacific Island Nations, Shared Seas: Indigenous Perspectives on Sea Turtle and Marine Conservation

  • Plenary 2 – Wednesday, March 4th, 8:30am–10:00am
    Headstarting Revisited: Effectiveness, Ethics, and Evidence

  • Plenary 3 – Thursday, March 5th, 8:30am–10:00am
    Surviving to Striving: Evolving the Ethos of Sea Turtle Conservation

A. Opening ceremonies

The symposium will begin with a traditional Hawaiian oli and blessing to welcome participants and honor the connection between people and place. Following a message from the ISTS President, invited speakers will set the tone for the week, highlighting themes of unity, stewardship, and collaboration that define this year’s gathering in Hawaiʻi.

Cultural Opening and Blessing

  • Danny and Anna Akaka are Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and community leaders who share ʻike kupuna through oli, pule, and traditional protocol. Raised in Hawaiʻi and grounded in family traditions of service and leadership, their work centers on honoring place, ancestors, and kuleana while fostering respect, connection, and stewardship.

Emcee

  • Josefa "Sefa" Muñoz was born and raised on Guam, located in the Mariana Islands. Her upbringing in CHamoru culture motivated her to study Marianas nesting green sea turtles as a Marine Biology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, with an expected graduation in December 2026.

Welcome Message

  • Dr. Alexander R. Gaos is the President of the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) and host of the 44th ISTS Symposium. Alex has shaped this gathering with an intentional focus on kaiāulu, the living relationships between people, place, and ocean that sustain both conservation and community.

    Alex’s perspective is rooted in a multicultural upbringing and a life shaped by movement, time on the ocean, and deep ties to Latin America and the Pacific. Raised across diverse landscapes and cultures, and fluent in both English and Spanish, he has spent much of his career working alongside coastal and Indigenous communities, emphasizing humility, trust, and long term relationships as central elements of conservation leadership.

    Professionally, Alex is a research marine biologist with the Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and the co founder and former director of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative. His work integrates satellite telemetry, genetics, and field based research with community driven conservation, reflecting a belief that durable solutions emerge when science, culture, and lived experience move forward together.

Invited Speakers

  • We are deeply honored to welcome Cindi Punihaole, A respected Native Hawaiian leader and lifelong steward of place, Cindi has played a central role in protecting Kahaluʻu Bay, located just minutes from the symposium venue in Keauhou. As Director of The Kohala Center’s Kahaluʻu Bay Education Center, she has led efforts to restore the bay’s ecological health through education, cultural grounding, and community-driven conservation.

    Cindi’s work embodies the values of aloha ʻāina and kuleana, bridging traditional knowledge, scientific research, and local action to care for marine ecosystems. We are grateful to have her voice and presence helping to anchor the symposium in the cultural and ecological richness of Hawaiʻi Island.

  • We are privileged to host Larry Katahira, whose pioneering work created the foundation of hawksbill turtle research, conservation, and recovery in Hawai‘i. A longtime wildlife specialist with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Larry led early, informal monitoring and transformed it into a coordinated conservation program (Hawaiʻi Island Hawksbill Project) that continues to protect nesting beaches across the island and document the ecology of one of the rarest turtle populations in the world.

    Larry’s decades of service in Hawai‘i combined place-based dedication with scientific discipline, resulting in thousands of hatchlings reaching the sea and a legacy of knowledge that continues to guide conservation today. His work embodies persistence and vision, anchoring the symposium in Hawai‘i’s history of sea turtle recovery and the enduring contributions of local conservation leaders.

  • We are honored to welcome Dr. José Urteaga, Director of Marine Partnerships for Wild Earth Allies. As a longtime leader in sea turtle and coastal conservation across Central America, over more than two decades, José has worked hand in hand with communities to protect olive ridley, leatherback, and hawksbill turtles at some of the region’s most critical nesting sites. His early efforts in Nicaragua helped transform grassroots protection into a lasting national and regional movement for marine conservation.

    Now serving as Director of Marine Partnerships at Wild Earth Allies, José continues to advance community-driven approaches that unite local well-being with environmental stewardship. His work embodies collaboration, compassion, and innovation, connecting people and ecosystems across borders. José’s leadership and partnerships reflect the spirit of global cooperation that defines our community, bridging continents and cultures in service of sea turtles and the coastal places we share.

  • We are pleased to welcome Dr. Summer Martin, Leader of the Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program at NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, where she oversees collaborative marine turtle research and conservation efforts across Hawaiʻi, the U.S. Pacific Islands, and the broader Pacific region.

    In this role, Summer works closely with territorial, national, and international partners to connect nesting beaches, migratory corridors, and foraging habitats that span multiple jurisdictions. Her leadership emphasizes long term partnerships, coordination across agencies and communities, and sustained engagement with collaborators throughout the Pacific, particularly in regions where turtles nest and later migrate into U.S. waters. She has been a strong and trusted partner with organizations and practitioners in Hawaiʻi and across the Pacific Islands, helping align science with conservation and management priorities.

    While grounded in rigorous science, including population modeling, long term monitoring, and field based research, Summer’s greatest strength lies in her ability to lead teams and foster collaboration across disciplines and borders. She holds a PhD in Biological Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and her work reflects a deep commitment to science informed, cooperative conservation that supports marine turtle recovery across the Pacific.

B) Plenary 1: Pacific Island Nations, Shared Seas: Indigenous Perspectives on Sea Turtle and Marine Conservation

This session highlights the deep-rooted relationships that Pacific Island communities maintain with the ocean and sea turtles. Indigenous leaders and practitioners from Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia will share cultural, spiritual, and ecological perspectives on stewardship, exploring how customary knowledge and modern conservation can work together to advance equity, collaboration, and resilience in marine conservation.

Moderator

  • Dr. Noelani Puniwai is an Associate Professor at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies whose work centers on the restoration of ʻāina momona (abundant lands) through the integration of Indigenous wisdom and environmental science. Her research often focuses on "pono science," a framework that prioritizes ethical, culturally grounded methodologies and recognizes the kinship between humans and the natural world. Notable in her scholarship is her work on cultural seascapes, where she has used community-based mapping to document how experienced ocean users perceive nearshore currents, highlighting that traditional observations provide high-resolution data comparable to mechanical systems. She has also authored influential biocultural analyses, such as her study of manō (sharks), which uses the Hawaiian proverb "Pua ka wiliwili, nanahu ka manō" to illustrate how terrestrial phenology and marine animal behavior are deeply interconnected. By advocating for "re-story-ation"—the process of learning the moʻolelo (stories) and genealogies of a place—Dr. Puniwai works to facilitate communication between local communities, management agencies, and scientists to ensure a healthy and abundant future for Hawaiʻi’s landscapes and people

Panelists

  • Jessy has worked with sea turtles from a very young age during his upbringing in Ulithi Atoll, Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. This early start has granted Jessy a wealth of traditional ecological knowledge and experience working with thousands of sea turtles both on land and in the ocean. Jessy was raised in the chief systems, which have successfully sustained the largest green turtle rookeries in the Central West Pacific. This highlights how conservation is not new in the Pacific Islands and has been sustained for many generations. Jessy is eager to share more about the strong links between sea turtles and Ulithian culture touching on traditional practices and stewardship. Currently, Jessy conducts beach monitoring, turtle tracking, and in-water field efforts throughout the Mariana Islands. Through his work, he bridges Indigenous and western knowledge systems in marine turtle research all while mentoring the next generation of Pacific Islanders in sea turtle conservation.

  • Nohealani Kaʻawa is a respected conservation leader, cultural practitioner (Kumu Hula) and community advocate from Kaʻū. Nohea has over 20 years of experience in natural resource management to protect Hawaiʻi’s forests, oceans and native ecosystems. She currently serves as the Hawaiʻi Island Forest Program Coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, where she leads large-scale forest restoration efforts and builds partnerships grounded in both science and Hawaiian cultural knowledge. Has been with Hawaii Wildlife Fund for 10 years, assisting with Marine Habitat restoration along the Kaʻū coastline. Prior to this role, she spent eight years with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and previously worked as an Instructional Specialist with the Department of Defense. Beyond her professional work, Nohea is a dedicated community leader and advocate for Aloha ʻĀina. She is the President of Iewe Hanaʻo Ka ʻĀina and Ka ʻOhana O Honuʻapo, serves on the board of the Na ʻAʻaliʻi Ku Makani Foundation, and co-founded Na ʻAʻaliʻi Ku Makani o Kaʻū, a Hawaiian immersion school uplifting Hawaiian language and culture-based education for keiki of Kaʻū.

  • Phinah hails from Ta‘ū, Manu‘a in American Samoa where she was raised living Fa‘a Samoa (the Samoan Way), which refers to the culture and traditions embedded in her homeland. She had her first experience with sea turtles as a young girl, witnessing both the natural and human impacts imposed on hawksbill hatchlings. This experience instilled a deep interest in ocean life, which led Phinah to earn an Associates of Science in Marine Science at the American Samoa Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Phinah’s passion and stewardship led her to return home where she has served as a sea turtle biologist with American Samoa’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources since 2022. Currently, Phinah leads nesting research, stranding response, and necropsies of stranded and longline bycaught turtles across Tutuila, Aunuʻu, Ofu, Olosega, and Taʻū, including the remote oceanic atoll of Motu o Manu (Rose Atoll). As a member of the U.S. government’s Young Pacific Leader program, Phinah is strengthening her growing leadership skills and representing American Samoa in a broader Pacific Islander network. This young, early career scientist is motivated to expand knowledge on and protect American Samoa sea turtles all while being guided by her cultural roots.

  • Uncle Kelson "Mac" Poepoe is a revered Native Hawaiian fisherman and community leader from Molokaʻi, recognized for his deep commitment to traditional Hawaiian resource management and subsistence practices. As a founding member of Hui Mālama o Moʻomomi, he has dedicated his life to restoring and maintaining the abundance of West Molokaʻi's fisheries, most notably through the creation of the Pono Fishing Calendar—a guide based on decades of traditional observation to promote sustainable harvesting. His views emphasize lawaiʻa pono (righteous fishing) and traditional Hawaiian stewardship, leading him to advocate for the delisting of the green sea turtle (honu) to allow Native Hawaiians to resume cultural, non-commercial harvests, arguing that federal protections unjustly criminalized their ancient, sustainable relationship with the species. Uncle Mac is a powerful inspiration for community-based conservation across Hawaiʻi, emphasizing that through responsible care (pono), the ocean's resources will always remain.

  • Karalaini Rereavosa is an iTaukei conservation practitioner from Fiji, with a strong focus on community-led marine turtle conservation and sustainable fisheries across the Pacific. She serves as an Assistant Turtle Project Officer with WWF-Pacific’s Sustainable Fisheries & Seafood Programme, where she works closely with coastal and Indigenous communities to strengthen local stewardship of marine resources. Her work emphasizes collaboration with traditional leaders, fishers, and community turtle guardians (dau ni vonu), integrating Indigenous knowledge, cultural values, and science-based approaches to support turtle protection and sustainable livelihoods.

  • Ann Singeo is a Palauan environmental leader and the Founder and Executive Director of the Ebiil Society, a community-based nonprofit dedicated to environmental education, cultural heritage, and natural resource stewardship across Palau. She established the Ebiil Society in 2005 to reconnect younger generations with their land and oceans through programs that integrate traditional ecological knowledge with science-based conservation. Under her leadership, the organization has expanded its educational reach and restoration efforts, nurturing local guardianship of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Ann’s work has been recognized regionally, including receiving the National Geographic Ocean Hero award 2024, and 2020 Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. Environmental Award for her significant contributions to conservation and community empowerment in Palau.

Organizers

José Urteaga, Aileen Lavalle, Josefa Muñoz, Michelle Early Capistrán, Summer Martin, Alexander Gaos

C) Plenary 2: Headstarting Revisited: Effectiveness, Ethics, and Evidence

Headstarting, the captive rearing and release of young turtles to increase early survival, has long sparked debate over its biological, economic, and ethical merits. This session revisits the practice through historical and more recent data and diverse perspectives, exploring its successes, limitations, and relevance to modern conservation. Speakers will discuss lessons learned and the role headstarting may play in evidence-based recovery strategies.

Moderator

  • Jeff Seminoff has been involved in ecological research and conservation of sea turtles around the world, with an emphasis in the eastern Pacific. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000, and was a post-doc at the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research until 2002. Seminoff is a Past-President of the International Sea Turtle Society and hosted ISTS-31 in San Diego in 2011. Today he serves as the U.S. Delegate for the Scientific Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles and is a member of IUCN Marine Turtle and IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Groups. Seminoff’s involvement in the Headstarting Plenary is rooted in his interest in re-evaluating the conservation tools that our sea turtle community uses during a time of unprecedented changes in sea turtle population status, and the evolving conservation needs that go with it. When not studying or talking about turtles, Jeff loves spending time with his wife Jennifer, often exploring the outdoors or cooking a yummy meal at home. 

Panelists

  • Dr. Brian Stacy is a Veterinary Medical Officer within the NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources, National Sea Turtle Program.  He works on a variety of issues related to sea turtle health, welfare, and mortality in pursuit of sea turtle conservation and recovery.  He also serves on the Marine Turtle Specialist Group and has authored many publications and other resources on sea turtle health and disease, stranding-based studies, field techniques, rehabilitation, and captive management.

  • Dr. Vandanaa Naveena Baboolal (Dr. Navi) is a dedicated wildlife veterinarian from Trinidad and Tobago with a strong commitment to conservation, education, and advancing veterinary medicine in the Caribbean. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of the West Indies, Trinidad, in 2012 and soon after began providing veterinary services to the Emperor Valley Zoo. Motivated by the challenges of limited local resources and her passion for growth, she pursued further studies abroad and completed her Master’s Degree in Wild Animal Health at the Royal Veterinary College, London, in 2016. 

    Currently, Dr. Navi serves as the lead veterinarian at the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre in Grand Cayman, where she works with sea turtles, nurse sharks, fish, and various bird species. A highlight of her role is coordinating the release of captive-bred green sea turtles into the wild—a rewarding contribution to global conservation efforts. In addition, she is actively engaged in applied research, collaborates with international researchers, contributes to scientific publications, and plays a vital role in mentoring and training veterinary students with interests in wildlife and exotic animal medicine.

  • Selina Heppell began working on the population-level impacts of headstarting Kemp's ridley sea turtles in 1991 as a master's student at North Carolina State University. Using population models and life history sensitivity analysis, Dr. Heppell asks, "how does headstarting improve the overall survivorship of a sea turtle population, relative to other conservation strategies?". After a career in fisheries ecology, Dr. Heppell is now urging caution in the application of highly manipulative strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change on wild populations, recommending thorough analysis and prognostic modeling prior to making management recommendations.

  • Anna Ortega is a quantitative ecologist who uses modelling to help guide conservation decisions. Her graduate studies focused on Pacific leatherbacks, and explored the role that ex situ efforts (like headstarting) could have in stabilizing and recovering critically endangered populations. She is currently working with the NOAA PIFSC team as a CIMAR postdoc at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

  • Mike Liles is a biologist for the Office of Protected Resources at NOAA Fisheries. His work centers on international sea turtle conservation programs and agreements, recovery planning, and fostering international collaborations around the globe, with emphasis on shared U.S. sea turtle populations. Mike coordinates NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight Initiative for Pacific leatherbacks and has been a member of the Marine Turtle Specialist Group since 2012.

Organizers

Brian Stacy, Jeffrey Seminoff, Michael Liles, Alexander Gaos

Sea turtle conservation largely emerged from a crisis mindset focused on preventing extinction. Decades of protection have brought recovery in some cases, as well as new challenges, inviting reflection on what conservation means in an era of recovering populations and greater recognition of the value of multiple perspectives. This session explores how strategies, ethics, and communication can evolve to sustain credibility, inclusivity, and resilience as conservation transitions from crisis response to long-term stewardship.

D) Plenary 3: Surviving to Thriving: Evolving the Ethos of Sea Turtle Conservation

Moderator

  • Bryan Wallace, Director of Ecolibrium, Inc, has worked for more than two decades across sectors and stakeholders, from the field to the conference room, to balance perspectives and priorities in today's environmental conservation challenges. His career has been blessed with hundreds of incredible colleagues from around the world, with whom he has collaborated on research and conservation projects across a diverse spectrum of topics in biology and conservation. He was a co-organizer of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group’s Burning Issues initiatives, and has been the MTSG Red List coordinator for more than a decade. In these roles, he facilitated assessments of the conservation status of sea turtles worldwide, highlighting successes as well as persistent challenges. Over the course of his career, Bryan has learned that respectful balance among perspectives and priorities is the key to effective science and successful conservation solutions. He is also a dad, husband, nature addict, trail runner, average front-yard gardener, amateur photographer, and avid conservationist/conversationist. 

Panelists

  • Jeff Seminoff has been involved in ecological research and conservation of sea turtles around the world since 1992, with an emphasis in the eastern Pacific. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000, and was a post-doc at the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research until 2002. Seminoff is a Past-President of the International Sea Turtle Society and hosted ISTS-31 in San Diego in 2011. Today he serves as the U.S. Delegate for the Scientific Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles and is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle and IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Groups. Relevant for the Surviving to Thriving Plenary at ISTS-44, Jeff served as the IUCN Red List Focal Point for the MTSG briefly in the early 2000s, was the Assessor for the 2004 IUCN green turtle status assessment, team lead for the 2015 green turtle assessment for the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and Assessor for the eastern Pacific green turtle RMU in last year’s IUCN green turtle assessment. Deeply committed to teaching and training young scientists about turtle research and conservation techniques, Jeff has served on thesis committees of more than 50 graduate students. He has authored over 240 publications and has reviewed and edited countless scientific products of others. Jeff, his wife Jennifer, daughter Quin, and son Graeson enjoy sharing meals and laughter whenever the kids are home from college, often while being watched by their two pugs, Arlo and Boo.

  • Maria Ângela, known as Neca, Marcovaldi, is an oceanographer and co-founder of Projeto TAMAR, Brazil’s pioneering sea turtle conservation program. For over four decades, she has led groundbreaking scientific and community-based efforts to protect sea turtles along the Brazilian coast, integrating research, conservation, and environmental education.

    Neca has served as President and Director of Conservation and Research at Fundação Projeto TAMAR, as Chair and Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, and has played a key role in establishing the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles. She is also the Brazil Coordinator of WIDECAST.

    Author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and the recipient of numerous international awards, she was recently honored with an Honorary Doctorate. Her career is internationally recognized as a model for how science, local communities, and sustainable development can work together to achieve effective coastal conservation.

  • Michelle María Early Capistrán is a Social Oceanographer Integrating her foundational training in Cultural Anthropology with a PhD in Marine Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), she specializes in the intersection of coastal livelihoods and marine conservation. For over a decade, Dr. Early Capistrán has collaborated with Eastern Pacific coastal communities to center local and generational knowledge systems in sea turtle conservation. She has deep roots in Latin America and an abiding love for the Pacific Islands, and her work focuses on equitable collaboration and community self-determination as the foundations of sustainable ocean futures.  She is currently a research scientist at Stanford University.

Organizers

Bryan Wallace, Jeffrey Seminoff, Kartik Shanker, Michelle Early Capistrán, Michael Liles, Alexander Gaos