Somewhere Far Away...: And the winner of the 2026 ECS Mandy McMath Conservation Award is...

The McMath award ceremony is opened by a piper!

Then this is the speech that follows – after I grumble about not being left any water on the stage and open one of the special cans of conference beer to compensate for this:

Good afternoon. It is lovely to be here in beautiful Scotland, and it is a privilege to again introduce the ECS conservation award to you

First, just a few comments about this award

- It is named after the late great Mandy McMath

- And we celebrate through it her life, her passions and her great sense of humour

- How the award is decided is described on the ECS website – anyone can be proposed (although you cannot propose yourself) and the award is decided by those that have previously won it (shown here on the slide), a process facilitated by me and your President.

- The award constitutes a trophy, and transient ownership of a painting (more about that in a moment) but mainly it is your accolade – the accolade of peers - which hopefully brings a feeling of deep achievement, warmth, love and appreciation to the recipient. We will practice your applause in a minute.

- - The award ceremony has evolved to include a short reflection on good things that have happened since we last met and then we unwrap the winner for you.

Here is the award picture provided by the first winner Kristopf and passed down the line of winners. So this year’s winner is required to return it to the next conference.

As is traditional during this ceremony we spend a few moments reflecting on the successful things that have happened in the intervening hyear. Reasons to be cheerful - and picking up a theme of Paul Thompson's keynote yesterday.

Brazil’s federal government created a huge conservation area on March 6 home to at least 25 endangered species, spanning more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres), making it the country’s largest marine park and third-largest marine protected area. A buffer zone spanning an additional 614,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) is home to endangered Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus gephyreus), of which just 500 individuals are alive today, and franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei), listed as critically endangered in Brazil and vulnerable worldwide.

43 new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) have been approved and placed on the map in the North West Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean. The new IMMAs highlight habitats for threatened marine life: blue whales, North Atlantic right whales and Rice’s whales, sperm whales, as well as manatees in the south of the region and polar bears in the north.

The IMMAs work was recently celebrated by the new PINK dolphin award, and this was collected by the redoubtable Simone Panigada in Hong Kong just a few weeks ago – and, at the same time, in recognition of her conservation work Linday Porter was also given this award – so if you are either of these people please could you stand so we too can applaud you. In fact, if you are in anyway involved in the IMMAs work please stand.

{Simone Panigada and others kindly stand and are applauded.}

Very recently the Conference of the Parties to the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species held its conference of parties (COP) in Brazil. This was a strongly marine-focused COP and the slide shows some of its achievements, including the adding of many marine species to its appendices and important marine resolutions and decisions.

Moving on to the McMath award for 2026…..

I have been waiting a few years to welcome this person to this stage for this award…

So please be prepared to welcome –

Certainly, one of the leading marine mammal scientists in the world today

A giant in the field

Author of 200+ peer-reviewed papers

Someone whose ‘’h is over 70 (incredible)

A person whose influence is felt all across the world

And yet who remains steadfastly modest, approachable and friendly

Someone who has successfully supervised dozens and dozens of PhD students and touched the research and lives of many others

Someone whose students love them so much that a whole tribe of them made the nomination – which hit my desk like a tidal wave of deep appreciation

This person has defined and strengthened the nuts and bolts of so much of the science that the rest of us use today – photo-iD, distance sampling, the RMP and more!

And despite all this, remains a very nice bloke

Ladies and gentlemen please get ready to provide your accolade. All your clapping and applause that has gone before is merely a gentle rehearsal for this.

Welcome this great man

– this wonderful educator

– the sultan of sustainability

– the archbishop of the algorithm

– the Peter Pan of probability

– the Godfather of SCANS

- the man who now has 'emeritus' on his office door (which is not far from here)

SMRU and Scotland’s very own Emeritus Professor Phil Hammond.

[The professor is cheered to the stage.]

And ECS President Tilen Genov adds these words [a quote from the nomination sent in by Phil’s students....]

“Despite his extensive scientific achievements, Phil considers his students and mentees his greatest legacy. Known for his open-door policy and generosity with his time, he is deeply valued by former students, many of whom remain active in the field. He has supervised over 50 PhD students, helped establish the internationally recognised MSc in Marine Mammal Science (University of St Andrews), and contributed extensively to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. His global leadership in capacity building - including workshops and support forresearch across Asia, Africa and South America - has strengthened marine mammal science worldwide.

Phil’s leadership, scientific excellence and personal integrity have left an indelible mark on the field, making him a highly deserving recipient of the ECS Mandy McMath Conservation Award. In addition, he is widely regarded as a generous, supportive, and genuinely kind and humble person, whose personal qualities have had a lasting impact on those who have worked with him.”