Jacques Fretey

This post is part of our Living Legends series that spotlights key people in sea turtle conservation.

Biography

A lifelong herpetologist, Jacques Fretey began to focus on marine turtles thanks to encouragement from Dr. Archie Carr and Dr. Peter Pritchard while he was working in French Guiana as a researcher for the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in the late 1970s. While there, he conducted an inventory of chelonians in French Guiana and led studies of leatherbacks for more than two decades, tagging more than 10,000 animals. He later discovered the importance of the beaches of Gabon for leatherback nesting and beaches of Long Island (Antigua and Barbuda) for hawksbill nesting.

In 1998, together with Doug Hykle, Jacques created the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Abidjan Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by 23 African states. He founded sea turtle field projects in Cameroon, Gabon, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Mauritania, Mayotte, São Tomé and Príncipe, Togo, and beyond. In 2018, with the help of Patrick Triplet, Jacques drafted an important habitat resolution for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which is currently being considered for adoption by France and Senegal. Jacques has written or coauthored 30 books and some 230 publications about sea turtles, natural history, and conservation.

What Was Your First Sea Turtle Moment?

It was my first time on a wild beach called Organabo in French Guiana. I was on an oceanographic mission, and one evening I went for a walk alone. As I sat on a dead mangrove trunk under a full moon, suddenly a leatherback turtle emerged from the sea and came straight toward me. That leatherback decided my life!

What Is Your Proudest Accomplishment in Sea Turtle Conservation?

I’m proud of many things, such as the 10 or so French ministerial decrees and the creation of the Amana Nature Reserve (French Guiana) and the Cameroon National Marine Park, which I initiated. But my proudest and most spectacular achievement is perhaps Resolution 13.24 of the Ramsar Convention. That international resolution has taken on an importance that I never imagined. Thanks to the resolution, many sites around the world will henceforth be classified as “untouchable.”

What Is Different Now from When You Started?

When I started, there were only about 20 sea turtle researchers in the world. Everything we did was pioneering. The slightest piece of research provided a new answer to some important question. It was as if we were building a wall, with each of us contributing one brick at a time. Now, young researchers think that all the base knowledge has simply always been present. But it is that early work that allows them to study things such as how much oxygen a turtle consumes while diving and eating a shrimp! It’s amazing!

What Are You Most Hopeful (and Worried) About?

My gravest concern is global warming. It’s happening much faster than predicted. After decades of female turtles being killed on beaches (we’ve almost solved this problem) and 20 years of industrial trawlers decimating entire populations (we are still working to solve this problem), now we are confronted with a new threat that we can do nothing about. But I want to remain positive and confident in the plasticity of sea turtles. Adventurous females will seek out new, more northerly nesting sites better suited to a balanced sex ratio. I’m also very concerned about plastic waste at sea.

What Is Your Advice to People New to This Field?

First of all, I’d like to congratulate them, because it’s a fantastic job that can fill your life with joy and fulfilment. But unfortunately, I’ve noticed that there are currently very few specific jobs in this field (even though caring for nature and the environment has never been so important!). Thus, many young scientists who are hard at work preparing a thesis on marine turtles may wind up working on bedbugs or in a consultancy.