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PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Judith van de Griendt | Lethal Luggage

Name: Judith van de Griendt
Picture title: Lethal Luggage
Category: People’s Choice Award
Nationality: the Netherlands
Occupation: Ocean and nature photography is my big passion. Besides being a photographer, I am also a freediver instructor. Freediving and photography are the perfect combinations to come in contact with the ocean and its inhabitants.

Technical information
Camera: Olympus OMD – E 5 mark II
Lens: 7-14 mm f2.8 pro at 12 mm
EXIF: 1/200 at F5, ISO 400
Accessories: Ikelite 2000DLM/A underwater housing, only natural light

Judith says:

In the Atlantic Ocean, nearby the Azorean Island Pico, we spotted this Bryde’s whale while on a special expedition. It was swimming slower than at its normal pace. After entering the water we noticed a few scars and a discarded fishing net stuck in its mouth and dragging all along its body.

Back on board, we called the Marine Biology department of Horta University in Faial. We knew the whale’s only chance to stay alive was trying to free the whale from the net while freediving. We had to take care of our own safety while the whale is a much better freediver than we are. One of my team members was able to dive down to the whale, grab the net, and try to cut it with a knife. Unfortunately, the whale was still too fast and diving too deep to guarantee our own safety and after a couple of attempts we had to let it go. It was a heartbreaking decision to let the whale go because we knew it eventually could cause the whale to die a painful and slow death.

Most of the abandoned nets found in the Azores are believed to come from boats operating elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. An estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million tonnes of ghost fishing gear ends up in our oceans each year. Killing millions of marine animals.

When I saw the whale and the entangled net I knew it would be very tricky to try to cut the net away and rescue the whale. At the same time, I realized that photographing this scene was a powerful image and message of the problems ghost nets are causing.

I hope this image can contribute to awareness about the major threats our oceans and wildlife are facing.