Learn the story behind the story from filmmaker Tom Fitz, who will discuss working for the BBC’s Natural History Unit, Nat Geo, and more on wildlife and environmental films for the past three decades. Come for Tom’s stills, videos, and behind the scenes stories, and bring your questions!

Does Tom's name sound familiar? NEADC members may remember Tom from his amazing footage at the Boston Sea Rovers Film festival a few years ago. Another great presentation from afar thanks to Zoom!

Tom Fitz is an American cameraman, producer and director who has documented our planet's natural wonders for over thirty years. As a freelance cinematographer, Tom has worked for the BBC, PBS, National Geographic and many others. He is the recipient of four Primetime Emmy Awards for cinematography and two for outstanding series, as well as two BAFTA awards.

Since 2003, an ambitious global effort to prevent the extinction of sea turtles and their habitats has been underway through the State of the World’s Sea Turtles (SWOT) Program. The program has since grown to include hundreds of field-based partners worldwide who contribute sea turtle data, expertise, and other resources to SWOT, and also make use of its products to support their research and conservation efforts. SWOT’s long-term goals are to create a global network of data contributors (the “SWOT Team,” with more than 2000 members), to generate a publicly available, global-scale, geo-referenced database of all nesting beaches, migration routes, and foraging areas for all species and age classes of sea turtles, and to use this information as the centerpiece of a targeted communications effort to reach people everywhere that can make a difference for marine conservation. This talk will explore some of the identified greatest threats to sea turtles (Fisheries Bycatch, Pollution, Coastal Development, Direct Take, Global Warming), and look at the research and solutions being implemented to conserve these magnificent sea reptiles.

More about the Oceanic Society

Rod is the President and CEO of Oceanic Society. He is also the Founder of the State of The World's Sea Turtles Program (SWOT) and Chief Editor of the annual SWOT Report. Rod co-chairs the IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group.