UPY 2025

UPY  Coral Reefs - Commended
'The End Of Corals'
Ishino

I’ve been using scuba diving to survey and photograph corals for the past 6 years since moving to Okinawa. In the summer of 2024, Okinawa’s coral reefs experienced massive bleaching. To investigate the extent, I went skin diving to a place I don’t normally visit. When I swam to an area where most people cannot reach from the coast, I discovered a vast coral reef that had been completely bleached.
Okinawa had experienced a major coral bleaching event in 1998. Since then, the corals have grown, overcoming many challenges over the past 26 years. However, the corals that had endured so much were unable to survive the prolonged high water temperatures of 2024. Within two weeks, nearly all the corals were covered with algae. The once beautiful coral reef disappeared almost unnoticed.

Judge's comment: The climate crisis is the biggest threat to many ecosystems, especially coral reefs. Reef building corals that construct this entire habitat can only thrive a narrow temperature range and a warming seas cause them to initially bleach white and then quickly die. Here this beautiful scene is also a very sad one.

Alex Mustard