Carlos Diez
Carlos E. Diez has been involved with turtles since he was very young. At 14, he went to Mona Island (uninhabited island located at 66 km from Puerto Rico) as volunteer to assist researchers to study nesting behavior of the elusive hawksbill turtle. Since that time, up to know, Mr Diez have been conducting and/or collaborating in sea turtle conservation studies all around the world. In 1992, Carlos E. Diez and Robert van Dam started and became the leaders of the Mona Island Hawksbill Project. The main objective of this project is to study aspects of the ecology and population dynamics of the critical endangered hawksbill sea turtle. This project is considered the longest research and pioneering project in the Caribbean for this species.
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Carlos E. Diez obtained a bachelor and master degree in biological sciences from the University of Central Florida (USA). His research focuses on population dynamics, ecology and status surveys of sea turtles in the Puerto Rico Archipelago and the Caribbean Region. Also, he has been assisting extensively in other wildlife and marine projects in particular with reptiles, corals, and coastal restorations. He has published over 75 publications (peer-review, proceedings, book chapters and popular magazines, and newsletter) and has participated in TV documentaries and other press filming notes.
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Since 1996, Mr. Diez has been working for the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) as a biologist. Part of his duties are: the development, direction, management, habitat restoration and technical support on sea turtle’ conservation and recovery program, principal investigator on foraging grounds assessments and reproductive trends of marine turtles in PR, among other tasks related with management and conservation of the natural resources. Since 2011, Mr Diez have been involved in the direction and development of community-based groups to assist the government in the conservation and recovery of sea turtles and its habitat. Currently, Carlos is a member of the IUCN Sea Turtle Specialist Group and National Coordinator for the Wider Caribbean Marine Turtle Network.
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Click the links for more information on Carlos's research.
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Carlos Diez will be presenting on October 9th, 2018. We will be updating our calendar with activity dates and times as we continue to coordinate our event. Stay tuned!