The International Whaling Commission’s Dr Lindsay Porter on the crucial role marine mammals play in the survival of the human race
Dr Lindsay Porter’s eyes start to well up as she tells Tatler about a phone call she received in late December. “I could not believe it. I actually thought somebody was taking the mickey and I nearly was quite cheeky back. And then just that little bit of me thought: no, Lindsay, don’t do that.” Luckily she restrained herself: the call was from the British Consulate in Hong Kong, telling her that she was on the New Year honours list, a British award that recognises the outstanding achievements of people from the UK. “When I realised it was true, I burst into tears.”
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Porter was nominated for an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her work protecting the world’s marine mammals. Among other roles, she is the current vice-chair of the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) scientific committee—only the third woman, and the first person with an Asian connection, to hold the role—and a leading expert on Hong Kong’s pink dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins. She has also worked on research projects around Asia concerning everything from the endangered river dolphins in Cambodia’s Mekong River and in Pakistan to blue whales and their faeces—she tells a fantastic story about her son taking a triple-wrapped container from the freezer and opening it to find that it definitely did not, as he had expected, contain orange sorbet.