about the too rare to wear campaign

Too Rare To Wear is a coalition of conservation organizations, tour operators, and many others. Our goal is to end the sale of turtleshell products to travelers in Latin America to protect the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle. The campaign is a project of SEE Turtles.

Learn more about the members of our coalition:

 

Campaign Staff & Advisors:

Brad Nahill, SEE Turtles President & Co-Founder

Brad manages all aspects of the campaign. Brad has worked in sea turtle conservation, ecotourism, and environmental education for more than 15 years with organizations including Ocean Conservancy, Rare, and Asociacion ANAI (Costa Rica). He has also consulted for several ecotourism companies and non-profits, including Paso Pacifico, EcoTeach, and the National Wildlife Federation. Brad is a co-author of the Worldwide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles, chair of the Awards Committee of the International Sea Turtle Society, and has authored several book chapters, blogs, and abstracts on turtle conservation and ecotourism. Brad has a BS in Environmental Economics from Penn State University and taught a class on ecotourism at Mount Hood Community College in Oregon.

Paula von Weller, Campaign Manager

Paula is a field biologist with fifteen years of experience in protected and endangered species fieldwork. She has worked for government agencies, non-profit organizations, and environmental consulting firms conducting fieldwork in the US, the Arctic, Latin America, and the tropical Pacific. She has experience working with various sea turtle, marine mammal, and bird species. Paula has been involved with SEE Turtles since 2009 and has a BS in Biology from Portland State University.

David Melero, Nicaragua Campaign Manager

David manages the Nicaragua campaign, including outreach, strategy, and communications. He is the founder of Sos Nicaragua, a new organization working to protect sea turtles through ecotourism. Previously he worked for the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative where he managed their volunteer and ecotourism program, as well as managing volunteers for the Corcovado Foundation in Costa Rica.

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, Advisor

Dr. Nichols has been a leading ocean conservationist for more than 20 years. Dr. Nichols is author of New York Times Bestselling book Blue Mind and co-author of the Worldwide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles. He is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, past President of the International Sea Turtle Society, and Eastern Pacific co-chair for the IUCN’s Marine Turtle Specialists Group. He co-founded organizations including SEE Turtles, Ocean Revolution, WiLDCOAST, and the Grupo Tortuguero, an award-winning coalition of fishermen, local residents, and conservationists spanning Mexico’s Pacific coast. Dr. Nichols has a PhD in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Arizona, an MEM from Duke University, and BS in Biology from DePauw University.  Learn more about Dr. Nichols.

Dr. Emma Harrison, Advisor

Dr. Emma Harrison became involved in sea turtle conservation in 1998 when she was a volunteer Research Assistant with the then Caribbean Conservation Corporation in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, while taking a break from her doctoral studies on butterfly behavior.  She was quickly hooked on turtles and on completion of her PhD worked with the Sea Turtle Conservancy in various positions; as the Field Research Coordinator, overseeing the Tortuguero project from 2002 - 2004, and from 2006 – 2016 as the Scientific Director, responsible not only for the Costa Rica program but also STC projects in Panama and other locations.  She is a current member of the Board of Directors of the International Sea Turtle Society and is the alternate representative for the Scientific Sector for the Consultative Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles.

campaign supporters:

Hawksbill Photos Generously Donated By:

 

Cover photo: CS Rogers