Lindsay Porter, Scientist and Conservationist from "A Plastic Ocean"

Lindsay graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in Aquatic Biosciences. After a few years fieldwork on the seals of Scotland, Lindsay moved to Hong Kong to start her PhD study on the local dolphin population. Lindsay has been based in Asia for the last twenty years and works for the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, which has a centre of excellence dedicated to marine mammal studies. She is interested in tropical marine mammal ecology and focuses on those populations which are at risk from human activities and processes. She has lead projects in Hong Kong, China, Australia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and East Timor.

Lindsay’s work on threats to the blue whales of Sri Lanka is featured in the documentary A Plastic Ocean. The population of blue whales that resides in the northern waters of the Indian Ocean is unusual in that the whales do not travel on an annual migration, like other whales. To identify the threats that these unique whales face, Lindsay and various other researchers have investigated distribution and local movement patterns and how these overlap with human activities. Of particular interest is the health of the population, the high toxin levels present may stem from the ingestion of degraded plastics. Lindsay also works on education and communication programmes so that she can share findings from science with the wider public.