UPY 2025

UPY  Save our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation - Commended
'Wounded giant manta ray'
Sirachai Shin Arunrugstichai

After surfacing from a dive, I was informed that somebody found a wounded manta with a pile of nets on its body, so I swapped my tank and jumped down again to look for this ray. Shortly, the ray approached my team, where my friends helped remove most of the nets. It wasn't as difficult as I imagined as the ray circled closely around us. However, we couldn't remove all of the nets as there were some left on the ray's cephalic lobe, cutting deep into the flesh. After a while, the ray swam away, and I guess it would survive but lose the left lobe. I always look for gritty images that portray our impacts on the oceans and often travel to photograph dead things, so I was glad to find this scene, but it left a lump in my throat after I looked at the picture I shot.

Judge's comment: A tragic image of inevitability as, despite human intervention to remove most of the nets, the remaining netting will eventually sever the left lobe and reduce its effectiveness in the feeding process. A slow painful process and so avoidable.
Peter Rowlands