Frederick Yeh

Frederick C. Yeh is an American social entrepreneur and conservation biologist who founded Sea Turtles 911, a non-profit sea turtle rescue and conservation organization that operates in the United States and China.

Early life

Yeh attended Montgomery County Public Schools, including Thomas S. Wootton High School, and graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Duke University. As Yeh said on a CNN interview, "When you see the sea turtles in Hawaii, how great they are, it's worth it when you can envision that and hope that one day it will happen in Hainan, one day, in China." and their conservation status reclassified as "Least Concern" according to the IUCN Red List. Thus, Yeh established Sea Turtles 911 under Hawaiian jurisdiction, and changed the course of his life by moving to China to save the sea turtles he had hopelessly witnessed being sold, earning him the nickname "The unlikely sea turtle savior" by the BBC. At a sea turtle release event held at the Ritz-Carlton, Sanya, Yeh stated, "For our release events, if we can bring multiple sectors in our community together, it will be very beneficial to sea turtle conservation in China. It is my hope that we can put other issues aside and agree on sea turtle rights, for the advancement of sea turtle conservation." Local community members, including fishermen and coast guard police, describe Yeh as a true "Haigui" or a "returning sea turtle,"

Activism

Yeh promotes environmental conservation through publicized sea turtle release events in China, and is vocal about ending sea turtle exploitation in Chinese media. As he has said, "Their survival is our responsibility; we must create hope." During interviews with journalists, he is known to use metaphors to facilitate the understanding of environmental conservation to the public. Yeh cautioned the Chinese public not to delay the increased protection efforts of sea turtles until they decline to the same population level as China's cherished Giant panda. In addressing marine pollution problems in China, he reminds the public not to treat the ocean as an enormous toilet and garbage dump. In China, poached sea turtles include endangered Green sea turtles raised primarily for consumption of their meat, and the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle raised for the trade in shell products such as jewelry, combs, eyeglass frames, and preserved trophies. During a speech condemning the use of sea turtle products, Yeh echoed Yao Ming's famous quotation, "When the buying stops, the killing can too." At this event, he proclaimed, "Sea turtle conservation does not only involve sea turtles. When we protect charismatic species such as whale sharks, those efforts spill over and protect sea turtles as well. These two animals share the ocean, and we must learn to share the ocean with them.” Yeh reminded the public, “As the global climate’s average temperature increases, more females will be hatched, jeopardizing sea turtle populations with an unbalanced sex ratio.”

In an interview with China's official state-run news agency, Xinhua News Agency, Yeh called for a celebrity to help save endangered sea turtles by raising public awareness. In 2014, Yeh was answered by former NBA basketball superstar Yao Ming, who consistently ranked #1 on the Forbes China Celebrity 100. Yao Ming joined Yeh in his public sea turtle release events and the duo set free rescued turtles back into the wild, raising awareness together that leads people to "an epiphany that turtles belong in the wild, and not in the market.” Yeh said, "The emotional experience of watching a sea turtle swim for freedom back to nature reminds us that we are all connected to the vast ocean expanse, and thus have the responsibility to protect them for our future generations.”

On January 15, 2016, United States Ambassador to China and former U.S. Senator Max Baucus joined Yeh in the release of two rescued turtles named Harvard and Yale into the South China Sea. According to Yeh, the U.S. Ambassador’s charitable act was recognized as symbolic because "Sea turtles are charismatic, migratory animals that serve as natural ambassadors of the ocean; as communities and countries work together to preserve this flagship species for future generations, our shared mission to save sea turtles nurtures a peaceful platform of common grounds to improve community and international relations."

Awards and honors

Frederick Yeh and Ambassador Gary Locke, former U.S. secretary of commerce and governor of Washington, show support for sea turtle conservation at their committee meeting.

On March 30, 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China honored Yeh the 2012 Popular Science Award, in recognition for his significant contributions to public awareness of marine conservation.

On January 9, 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially recognized Yeh as a marine turtle expert in the China region.

On June 22, 2015, Duke University awarded Yeh with the prestigious Global Fellowship in Marine Conservation.

On June 23, 2015, the United States Department of State and the National Development and Reform Commission supported Yeh to lead the U.S.-China bilateral partnership to save endangered sea turtles.

On July 28, 2015, National Geographic interviewed Yeh as their Featured Explorer to inspire children to save sea turtles.

On April 15, 2018, the Committee of 100 officially recognized Yeh as their Next Generation Leader to advance the betterment of U.S.-China relations. Committee delegations have been invited to give briefings to top officials at the White House and Zhongnanhai. Prominent members of the committee include Ambassador Gary Locke, former United States Secretary of Commerce and Governor of Washington; I. M. Pei, renowned architect; Yo-Yo Ma, master cellist; Jerry Yang, Founder of Yahoo!; David Ho, Time magazine's 1996 Man of the Year for pioneering HIV/AIDS research; Michelle Kwan, Olympic medalist in figure skating; and Steve Chen, Founder of YouTube.