“I did what any 12-year-old boy would do — I latched onto the thing,” says Jesse Senko ’06 (CAHNR), recounting the time a “gigantic” green sea turtle swam up to him while he was snorkeling in the Cayman Islands with his family. “I remember hearing the screams from my mom on the boat. She was terrified. She’s screaming. And the crew’s blowing whistles. And they’re yelling. And I remember thinking, ‘Screw it. I’m going on this ride.’”

Eventually the turtle brought Jesse back to the boat. But the ride never ended.

Even as Jesse’s parents were yanking their delinquent out of the water, he was sputtering, “Now I know what I want to do with my life. I want to study sea turtles.” Of course they laughed. “They were like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cute.’ I mean, they didn’t discourage it. No, no,” says Senko. “But they were thinking, Yeah, that’s today.”

Two decades and three university degrees later, Senko is still obsessed with sea turtles. His signature laser focus, though, has shifted from the sea turtles themselves to the fishers who unwittingly tangle sea turtles and other bycatch in their gill nets.

Read on for more.