Thien Nguyen Ngoc/UPY 2022
Thien Nguyen Ngoc's aerial photograph of anchovy fishing off the coast of Hon Yen in Vietnam has won him the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2022 award. Salted anchovy is a key ingredient in traditional Vietnamese fish sauce but when anchovies are overfished, whales, tuna, sea birds and other marine predators whose diets rely on them face starvation and population decline.
Pasquale Vassallo/UPY 2022
During a dive in the Gulf of Naples, in Italy, Pasquale Vassallo captured the "strength and tenacity" of tuna trying to free themselves from nets. Competition judge Alex Mustard described the photograph as a "powerful composition, showing us the everyday of food production."
Shane Gross/UPY 2022
Shane Gross took this photograph of a salt marsh in Oyster, Virginia, using a drone. It shows a huge seagrass restoration project being conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and The Nature Conservancy. "We give trees a lot of credit for sequestering carbon, but salt marshes, mangroves and seagrasses (collectively known as blue carbon) are disproportionately massive carbon sinks," he wrote with his submission.
Rafael Fernandez Caballero/UPY 2022
A survey by the University of Exeter covering the major oceans where turtles live discovered that 91% of turtles entangled in discarded fishing gear were found dead. Rafael Fernandez Caballero found this small, entangled turtle at the La Reina dive site in Mexico and released it. "There is always hope and even humans can help to solve the problems they created. We have just to erase the origin of these problem," he wrote.
Kevin De Vree/UPY 2022
This photograph taken by Kevin De Vree shows an overcrowded aquarium in a Tokyo fish market. Vree wrote that pufferfish can be poisonous if prepared improperly, yet they are so popular that overfishing could be pushing one species to the brink of extinction. "To me this photo symbolizes humans' deadly appetite, leading to overfishing and ultimately the destruction of our oceans."
Alex Lindbloom/UPY 2022
This photograph showing plastic pollution was highly commended by the judges. Alex Lindbloom captured the image in a remote part of Indonesia where the "the plastic was 3-5 meters thick" underwater. "Plastic ending up in nature is not a country-specific problem, it's a global problem," he wrote.
Rafael Fernandez Caballero/UPY 2022
The Marine Conservation award is just one category in the Underwater Photographer of the Year awards. Rafael Fernandez Caballero won the overall competition for his photograph "Giants of the night," which shows whale sharks feeding together at night in the Maldives. "Magic happens in the ocean every day, but if we don't protect the oceans and sharks, these moments will soon be a thing of the past," he wrote with his sumbission.
Matty Smith/UPY 2022
This photograph of a great white shark was taken at the North Neptune Islands in Australia by Matty Smith, earning him the title British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022. To get the over/under portrait, he constructed a dome port for his camera and a pole and remote trigger in order to safely lower his camera into the water. "Surprisingly, the sharks were instantly attracted to the camera, in fact it was a battle to stop them biting it!" he wrote.
Pekka Tuuri/UPY 2022
Pekka Tuuri won the "My Backyard" category with this photograph of frogs spawning in a pond near his home in Finland. He spent four days and nights in the pond last year until the frogs became accustomed to him. "The frogs climb on top of my camera, make grunting sounds in my ears and squeeze between my face and the backplate of the camera," he wrote.
CNN  — 

An aerial photograph of two boats, with nets cast wide fishing for anchovies in the waters of Vietnam, has won the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation category of the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022 award.

It’s a stunning image – the contrasting colors of the water, the near symmetry of the boats, the embryonic shape of the nets – but it also serves as “a stark visual reminder of man’s reach and control over the surrounding habitat and its devastating effect on the natural balance,” according to the award’s judge, Peter Rowlands.

It was taken by 34-year-old Vietnamese engineer Thien Nguyen Ngoc, who describes photography as a hobby and said it was “an honor to be chosen as the winner.” Ngoc says he had visited the waters of Phu Yen province, where he took the photograph, numerous times before but on this occasion, he saw many vessels gathered to catch the anchovies.

Salted anchovy is an important ingredient in traditional Vietnamese fish sauce, but it is also a dietary staple for whales, tuna, sea birds and other marine animals that face population decline when there is overfishing, according to the photographer.

World-famous photographers join forces to protect the environment

Ngoc says he saw an opportunity to use photography to spread the message that while anchovies are very small fish, they “play a crucial role in the food chain of the ocean,” adding that overfishing is a problem around the world.

“Photography is a very powerful tool for me and photographers like me to deliver a conservation message to the world because the language of photography is universal,” Ngoc said. “It doesn’t matter what part of the world you come from, what language you speak. Photography can expose conservation issues in a compelling and easy way to understand.”

Matty Smith/UPY 2022
Matty Smith won the British Underwater Photographer of the Year category for this photograph of a great white shark, taken at the North Neptune Islands in Australia.

“The greatest threat to our oceans”

The Save Our Seas Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to protecting ocean life, especially sharks and rays. Jade Schultz from the Foundation wrote in an email that Ngoc’s image was “an extremely striking and engaging photo.”

“Overfishing is the greatest threat to our oceans, but it is also a very complex one. Many generations of fishers have supported their families off our oceans, with around three billion people in coastal communities relying on seafood as their primary source of protein,” she added. “We need to ensure that these resources are managed sustainably to protect marine life and whole ecosystems and the livelihoods of those who rely on our oceans.”

The conservation award is just one of the categories in the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition. The overall prize was won by Rafael Fernandez Caballero for his image titled “Giants of the night,” which shows whale sharks feeding together at night in the Maldives. “Magic happens in the ocean every day, but if we don’t protect the oceans and sharks, these moments will soon be a thing of the past,” he said in a statement.

Schultz wrote that “In terms of marine conservation … photography is an essential tool in that photographs have the power to translate information, stir emotion and affect meaningful change in the viewer in a way that no presentation of facts can.

“Beyond shining a spotlight on the multiple anthropogenic threats our oceans face, from overfishing to disappearing critical habitats, we hope that the images are able to educate and spur positive action.”