To celebrate World Ocean Day 2024 on June 8, Dive Photo Guide has revealed the winners of its 11th annual photo competition.
This year’s photo contest featured five categories exploring this year’s theme, “Awaken new depths.” The winners unveiled at today’s UN World Oceans Day 2024 event at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, were selected by a panel of renowned judges, including photographer Tom St. George, explorer Julia Gugelmeier, photographer Mohamed Rifshan Shaheem, and photographer Mayumi Takeuchi-Ebbins. The five jurors picked the top three winners in each category from thousands of entries.
The winning photographers hail from nine countries and are all featured below, organized by category.
Awaken New Depths
“This large discarded fishing net was found lying on the reef at about 30 meters in Kona, Hawaii,” says Grinnell Capozzola. “Volunteers from Ocean Defenders Alliance, also known as ODA, brought up this net by working closely together, using lift bags, and the net was then raised onto a boat provided by Kona Honu Divers. Earlier that day ODA had raised and extracted large volumes of fishing line (ultimately filling large buckets for removal) that had been snarled upon the reef. Unfortunately, our ocean suffers from large amounts of debris, which can destroy reefs, entangle marine life, and release harmful chemicals. Many thanks to organizations such as ODA for helping to clean our ocean and preserve marine ecosystems for future generations.”
Underwater Seascapes
“I traveled to Baja California hoping to witness the Mobula munkiana aggregation. One day we found a vortex of them in deep, blue waters,” says the winning photographer, Taryn Schulz. “They were circling and swimming in union. It felt like a beautiful, hypnotic dance. Seeing such big aggregations can lead to think that their populations are doing well. Unfortunately, Mobula munkiana are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list.”
Small Island Developing States
Marandino, who won first and second place in this category, captured the image above in the Solomon Islands. Like many villages on islands, this village is only slightly above sea level and, therefore, particularly susceptible to rising ocean levels. The village also depends on the surrounding coral reefs for food security and coral reefs face an existential threat.
Big and Small Underwater Faces
The winning image by Mathieu Macias shows a juvenile Football Octopus (Ocythoe tuberculata). The octopus species usually lives about 200 meters below the surface, although young ones occasionally travel closer to the water’s surface.
“I saw a handful in salps on this day at the Poor Knights Islands off New Zealand’s northeastern coast, but this was the only free swimming juvenile I encountered,” the photographer explains.
Above Water Seascapes
“A fisherman tries to catch the daily food for his family using a traditional technique in Myanmar,” says Sswat. “The picture was taken on the lake Inle in 2019. I was lucky with the nice warm lights which give a nice extra touch, a glory to this beautiful moment.”
For more information on World Ocean Day 2024, visit the UN’s website. Additional information on diving, underwater photography, and great marine travel destinations is available on Dive Photo Guide‘s website.
Image credits: Photos courtesy of Dive Photo Guide. Individual photographers are credited in the image captions. Featured image © Taryn Schulz.
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