![](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_putting-the-ocean-first_1st-place_tom-shlesinger.jpg)
Photo/Tom Shlesinger
The Planet Ocean exhibit draws on winning entries from the 2023 Photo Competition for World Oceans Day, which was organized around the theme “Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing”.
This theme underscored that, while the ocean covers the majority of the earth, we have only explored a small portion of its waters. Despite humanity’s utter reliance on it, and compared to the breadth and depth of what it gives us, the ocean receives only a fragment of our attention and resources in return. But the tides are changing.
The photographs in this exhibit represent some of the most powerful images received and show how photography can highlight the ocean and our relation to it. They promote ocean literacy – or an understanding of our influence on the ocean and the ocean’s influence on us – and encourage us all to engage with the challenges our ocean faces. In this way, these images can also contribute to humanity “changing the tides” and putting the ocean first.
The captions are provided by the photographers and provide their insights on the images captured on our Planet Ocean.
This exhibit is organized by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations.
The Photo Competition for World Oceans Day is organized in collaboration between the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations and Oceanic Global, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. We also acknowledge the support of Dive Photo Guide.
No Time to Waste
Winner: ?lvaro Herrero (Spain)
![Humpback Whale](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_1st-place_alvaro-herrero.jpg)
Humpback Whale. Pacific Ocean, Baja California, Mexico. A humpback whale with a buoy entangled to its tail, already decomposed, dies slowly and agonizingly. A clear reflection of the slow and painful death that we are giving to our oceans, our planet.
![Humpback Whale](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_1st-place_alvaro-herrero_sized.jpg)
![Humpback Whale](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_1st-place_alvaro-herrero-3.jpg)
Finalist: Simon Lorenz (Germany)
![Sea turtle](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_2nd-place_simon-lorenz-1.jpg)
Sea turtles face a multitude of man-made threats. The plastic trash floating in the ocean is often mistaken for food by sea turtles like this Olive Ridley in Sri Lanka. After ingesting the plastic, the turtles become too buoyant to dive. With their carapace floating above the water, they eventually dry out and die of heat exposure and starvation.
![Sea turtle](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_2nd-place_simon-lorenz_new.jpg)
![Sea turtle](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_2nd-place_simon-lorenz-3.jpg)
This Olive Ridley sea turtle was found entangled in a ghost net far off the coast of Sri Lanka. It was likely resting on the man-made island when it became helplessly entangled. Fortunately, it could be freed by my local guide and released without injury.
Finalist: Ines Goovaerts (Belgium)
![The Ish?m River in Albania](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_3rd-place_ines-goovaerts-1.jpg)
Behold the mouth of the Ish?m River in Albania, one of the top 3 most polluted rivers in Europe. Due to issues related to waste management in this area, a significant amount of plastic trash every year ends up in the Adriatic sea.
![The Ish?m River in Albania](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_3rd-place_ines-goovaerts-2.jpg)
![The Ish?m River in Albania](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_no-time-to-waste_3rd-place_ines-goovaerts-3.jpg)
As in-house photographer for the NGO River Cleanup, I’ve traveled to this spot multiple times to capture the tragedy that is happening right in front of us. By involving people, companies and governments, River Cleanup’s objective is to clean this river from source to end. Awareness, change and action are needed to turn the tide for this river, the sea, the planet and humanity. There is litter-ally no time to waste!
Putting the Ocean First
Winner: Tom Shlesinger (Israel)
![Hawksbill sea turtle](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_putting-the-ocean-first_1st-place_tom-shlesinger.jpg)
Although the hawksbill sea turtle is critically endangered, it is quite common in the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, northern Red Sea. This sea turtle is among the smallest of all sea turtles and its diet is diverse, ranging from sponges and soft corals to jellyfish, crustaceans, and more. Here, a hawksbill sea turtle is checking out a coral nursery dubbed “the igloo”. This dome-shaped artificial reef was built and placed in the sea more than two decades ago. Quickly after corals were transplanted onto the igloo, many more established themselves naturally, which in turn attracted numerous species of fishes and other animals to visit and inhabit the structure.
The wonderful world of tides
Winner: Chris Gug (USA)
![Coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_the-wonderful-world-of-tides_1st-place_chris-gug.jpg)
While scouting the ocean for the aggregation of mobula rays off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my drone day after day, I came across the most beautifully powerful shorebreak where the massive waves crashed directly onto the sand, forming beautiful barrels energetically exploding directly on the beach.
Ocean is life
Winner: Shane Gross (Canada)
![A mother and son gather sea urchins for their family at low tide in a seagrass meadow in Bali, Indonesia.](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_ocean-is-life_1st-place_shane-gross.jpg)
A mother and son gather sea urchins for their family at low tide in a seagrass meadow in Bali, Indonesia. Seagrass is an often overlooked coastal habitat important for food security, biodiversity, storm protection, and fisheries. Seagrass meadows also store carbon more efficiently than rainforests, helping in our fight against climate change. Seagrass is something conservationists and fishers agree needs to be protected.
Big and small underwater faces
Winner: Glenn Ostle (USA)
![California Sea Lion](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_big-and-small-underwater-faces_1st-place_glenn-ostle.jpg)
Only a short boat ride from LaPaz, Mexico, is a pair of rocky islets known as Los Islotes. With a population of between four and five hundred animals, it is home to the largest reproductive colony of California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) in the Sea of Cortez.
The water seemed to boil with life and it was hypnotic to watch the sea lions dart into huge aggregations of silver fish, only to burst back through the schools, splitting, and dividing them. At times, the sea lions seemed to pause and appear somewhat overwhelmed at the sight of so many fish within easy reach, as this young sea lion seemed to be doing.
Underwater Seascapes
Winner: Andy Schmid (Switzerland)
![A female orca splitting a herring bait ball while diving through it to get one](/sites/un2.un.org/files/2024/04/wod2023_photo-competition_underwater-seascapes_1st-place_andy-schmid.jpg)
A female orca splitting a herring bait ball while diving through it to get one, shot from underneath while freediving. Every winter enormous schools of herring migrate from the open ocean into the fjords of northern Norway and attract large numbers of big predators such as orcas and humpback whales. Witnessing orcas feeding on herring using the so-called carousel feeding technique is very exciting, but not easy to capture due to various factors: limited light and visibility, fast paced action plus cold surface and water temperature. Being able to freedive and capture the action of an ongoing feeding frenzy in these conditions is difficult but this winter I managed to create a series of photos I had never dreamt of capturing.
This exhibit was launched in April 2024