New Ocean Pictures: Best Shots of Imperiled Sea Life Named

Tuna Transport

Photograph courtesy George Stoyle, Marine Photobank

Frozen tuna are transferred from a fishing vessel to a carrier vessel in the Indian Ocean in a picture that won an honorable mention in the 2011 ocean photo contest.

Many species of tuna are being overfished, particularly giant bluefin tuna, which can grow to 12 feet (3.7 meters) in length, weigh 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms), and live for 30 years.

Giant bluefin once migrated by the millions throughout the Atlantic Basin and the Mediterranean Sea, but the fish are now experiencing significant declines. By the mid-1990s, stocks of southern bluefin tuna had been fished to between 6 and 12 percent of their original numbers in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

(Get more facts about overfishing.)

Published November 22, 2011

Ocean Trash

Photograph courtesy Peri Paleracio, Marine Photobank

A boat sits above heavily polluted water in Anilao, the Philippines, in a picture that won the 2011 contest's first prize.

The picture, called an over-under shot, presents an often unseen view of ocean pollution, including debris suspended in the waters.

Plastics, for example, are extremely durable and can drift on ocean currents for decades, leaching potentially toxic chemicals into the water as they decompose.

(Related: "Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All—And Fast.")

Published November 22, 2011

Child's Play

Photograph courtesy Green Fins Association/Marine Photobank

Local children pick up beach litter in Krabi, Thailand, during a beach cleanup organized by the nonprofit Green Fins Association.

The picture, which won an honorable mention as the "Most Hopeful" photograph in the 2011 contest, "demonstrates the infectious power of community-based beach cleanups and how local children can play a role in environmental stewardship," according to the Marine Photobank website.

(Related pictures: "X PRIZE Contest Seeks Improved Oil Spill Cleanup.")

Published November 22, 2011

Entangled

Photograph courtesy Frank Baensch, Marine Photobank

A crab gets tangled in a gill net that had settled on a coral reef in Hawaii.

The picture, which won an honorable mention in the 2011 photo contest, "shows the danger posed by abandoned gill nets to coral reef ecosystems, and how the nets continue to fish long after the fishermen have left the location," according to the Marine Photobank website.

(Read about ten things you do can do to help save the ocean.)

Published November 22, 2011