And the winner of the 2025 ECS Conservation Award Is......

 It was again my privilege to announce the winner of the European Conservation Society conservation award this year.

Here is what I said and also what Tilen Genov the ECS president then added.

 

The ECS Conservation Award or McMath is the ECS’s highest award – and is named after the late Mandy McMath and is given to a person whose outstanding contribution to marine mammal conservation and/or welfare deserves to be recognised. The mechanism for this is described on the ECS website and includes a nominating component and then the decision rests entirely with the previous award winners.

Thank you to those that made nominations this year. Without you this process would not work.

The award consists of a crystal trophy, the transient ownership of the award picture donated by the very first award winner – the late and much missed Kristoph Skora – and most importantly, your accolade, which they can hold in their hearts in the years ahead.

So as some of you know, I like to rehearse this with the audience, especially the applause aspect so that we achieve the appropriate outstanding volume for this outstanding award and as we have an unusual density of previous winners here today – please could they stand – so that we can give them a new round of applause.

Here is a photo we took earlier of all the McMath laureates that were present: Dan, Ida, Giuseppe, Heidi, Peter, Hal, Nick and Tilen.

[They stand and thee is much applause]

One of our award winners who sadly cannot be here today is Paul Jepson who continues his battle with Huntingdon’s Disease. 

Paul

And we propose to send a special message to him. We are going to send him a picture of the whole congregation waving and sending him love. I have asked his close colleagues to assemble here so they are at the front of the picture, and we will quickly take the photo with you all waving.

[This is then done.]

Lots of waving and hearts for Paul

Thank you.

The McMath is typically delivered in what is hoped to be a humorous way in honour of the great good humour of Amanda Jane McMath. Carrying this responsibility is not always easy and this year it is especially hard. This not the place or opportunity to make political statements but, oh my God, we live in a world of pain, conflict and wilful ignorance these days.

And we have learned that all the hard and rigorous work that goes into setting up comprehensive world-leading conservation efforts can be revoked in the stroke of a pen.

It is far more difficult to make conservation happen than it is to destroy it.

So let me tell you a little inspirational story that may help us all. This is the story of the ‘Star Thrower’ and some of you will know it.

We are going to provide an enactment – the scene requires an old man and a boy. So we need someone adequately boyish to take up one role....

[Tilen Genov returns to the stage to laughter and applause]

Early one morning, as the sun was rising in the sky, an old man sets off on his daily constitutional along the beach. As he walks, he notices two things, firstly that the shore is littered with dead and dying starfish and secondly that there is a young boy in the distance coming in this direction. He sees the boy pick something up from the strandline and throw it into the sea.

The boy then walks a few more steps and picks something else up and tosses it too into the water. He skips further along the shore.

[Pause for Tilen skipping]

The old man is curious, and he makes his way over to the boy.

“Can I ask what you are doing?” says the old man.

“I’m throwing the starfish into the sea,” replies the boy.

The old man looks puzzled, “Why would you do that?” he says.

“Because the tide is going out and the sun is coming up,” explains the boy. “Soon it will be too hot on the sand and the starfish will dry out.”

The man threw his head back and laughs, “But the beach goes on for miles and miles. There are thousands of starfish stranded here. You will never be able to make a difference!”

The boy gently picks up another starfish and throws it into the sea. As it splashes into the cool water, he turns to the man and quietly says,

“It made a difference to that one.”

The old man stands thinking for a while. Then he bends down and picks up a starfish and throws it into the sea and he continues along the shore doing this.

[I thank Tilen for being such a good sport and also hand him the copy of 'Sailing across a Wounded Sea that its authorGiuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, another previous winner of the ECS Coservation Award, has left for him.]

Now because of the community that you are – lots of thoughts about this event will be popping into your heads –

Things like –

Stop stop stop – it’s just a simple morality tale – the message is meant to be something like even when things look too big and too dreadful to address – the little things that you can do matter.

____________________________________________________________________________

Let us also embrace some of the great things that have happened over the months since we last met.

[This slide is then shown showing some recent publications and events]

Highlighted here are Attenborough’s new Ocean documentary; the new tranche of IMMAs for the NE Atlantic; the new huge marine protected area in the Azores; Giuseppe’s book; this new (and much needed) report on bycatch from the Environmental Investigation Agency, and the recently published paper from Rosie Williams and members of the pathology team (including Paul Jepson) that uniquely considers the combined effects of pollution and climate change. ]

This is just my list and I am sure you can think of other things to feel positive about.

___________________________________________________________________________

And in my role of the herald of the McMath award, I have been reflecting on the qualities that the people who effectively make change in our world have – let’s call them campaigners although this is perhaps not quite adequate.

I provide a list of some great campaigners that I have known –

David McTaggart, Sidney Holt, Sue Fisher, Jane Goodall, Jennifer Lonsdale, Claire Bass, Clare Perry, Naomi Rose, Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earl, Paul Spong, Naomi Rose ... you may have your own list.

But what is it that makes a great campaigner? Here are some elements -

Persistence and Integrity – never giving up

Being knowledgeable – knowing what you are doing and have right on your side

Bravery – pushing back against the odds

Being hard working – you need to really know your topic and all the factors that affect it.

Leadership and uniting your allies (good social skills really help)

[These points are shown on the screen and then ‘ subject to further ‘analyses’  are spun around until a set of letters are picked out.]

Let’s analyse these a little more – maybe run a few Bayseian analyses, bootstrap them and biopsy and tag them to try to find our award winner this year.... is a picture emerging...

RAD HAS....is there a Dr Rad Has in the house – no that seems wrong ... let’s probe further... maybe apply a Montecarlo Simulation or two.....

Ah yes that makes better sense – Sarah.. .D

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, please welcome to the stage – our star thrower

- Sarah Dolman the ECS 2025 Conservation Award Winner.

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[Sarah comes to the stage whilst there is a standing ovation and then Tilen Genov, ECS President, now speaks:]

Here is what your nominators said about you

‘We would like to nominate our colleague’ ... ‘for the extensive impact she has had on the conservation of cetaceans both within the UK and globally, through her work on a wide variety of pressures in her role within Whale and Dolphin Conservation and more recently within [the] Environmental Investigation Agency. This includes campaigning work on the mitigation of bycatch related impacts...’

And they list

•  Drafting of a formal complaint, leading to legal action against four European Commission Members States for bycatch inaction;
• Submission of Emergency Measures requests to the European Commission which led to the implementation of a Delegated Act to protect Baltic Proper harbour porpoise in Natura sites; and
• Being responsible for the inclusion of an ecosystem objective to prevent sensitive species bycatch in the UK Fisheries Act 2020.
• Additionally, she helped obtain European funding for and partnering within a two-year project to understand the extent of large marine animal creel entanglements in Scotland.
• Carried out the first protected species bycatch audit within a supermarket supply chain and got formal commitment from the supermarket for implementation of measures.

They also note that she has led work on noise threats to cetaceans, including the investigation of an unusual mortality event of beaked whales and wider work on the impacts of naval sonar and other anthropogenic marine noise producers

-          And she has ‘campaigned tirelessly for cetaceans within Scotland and more widely, including drafting the third-party proposal which resulted in designation of three Scottish marine mammal marine protected areas, under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, including including the northeast Lewis MPA in 2020.

-        They also note her work as a trustee for Mara; Her work as the chair of the UK Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) bycatch working group; Membership of the IWC bycatch expert panel, the ICES Marine Mammal Working Group and multiple ASCOBANS-ACCOBAMS working groups and within the European Seas at Risk (SaR) working group, providing development and guidance of their bycatch work (intensive engagement with key European NGOs working on fisheries and wider issues and the production of policy outputs).

They add....Sarah works effectively with multiple stakeholders across UK Government, including MPs and peers across the UK political spectrum. Through these links, she has been successful at progressing policies and influencing legislation, contributing to cross-party groups on wildlife crime, animal welfare and tourism.

Sarah has also helped support a broad programme of citizen science, within Shorewatch, British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme and directly through her research

And they conclude ‘her advocacy role and tireless campaigning for cetacean conservation is truly inspiring and we are grateful to count her as a much-valued friend and colleague’.

And I would add your contributions to the ECS meetings over the years.

And Sarah comes to the stage.

She thanks Mark and Tilen and whoever made the nomination for her and graciously accepts the award.

[More applause follows.]

Thanks to Laetitia Nunny for help with images and words and the Star Thrower was based on an essay by Joel Arthur Barker.