HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY HUMAN AND NATURE
Lana Tannir | Echolocation

Name: Lana Tannir
Picture title: Echolocation
Category: Human and Nature
Nationality: My country of origin is Croatia and my current country of residence is Germany
Occupation: I am a nature photographer and wildlife biologist

Technical information
Camera: Sony A7R3
Lens: Sony 16-35mm
EXIF: Aperture: f/5.6 – ISO: 4000 – Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.
Accessories: Sea Frogs underwater camera housing for Sony A7R3. No flash was used.

Lana Tannir says:

Harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are small, elusive cetaceans found in coastal waters across the Northern Hemisphere. They rely on echolocation to navigate, communicate, and hunt. However, populations in many regions are declining due to human impacts such as underwater noise, pollution, overfishing, and bycatch in fishing nets.

At 30 years old, Freja is the most well-studied and oldest recorded harbor porpoise in the world. Since 1997, she has lived at Fjord & Bælt, a research facility in Kerteminde, Denmark, after being bycaught in a fisherman’s net and deemed non-releasable. Freja participates in non-invasive behavioral experiments such as this one, in which her eyes are covered with suction cups while she is asked to discriminate between two underwater targets, one made of aluminum and the other of plastic. A DTAG monitoring device on her back records her acoustic responses. Through these studies, scientists aim to understand how harbor porpoises use echolocation to hunt and how underwater noise affects their foraging abilities. Such research helps guide conservation strategies to support the survival of these elusive marine mammals in the wild.

This photograph was taken at the research station during one of these data collection sessions and is part of a larger photography project titled Saving the Harbor Porpoise. The project documents the work of scientists and conservationists in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, highlighting their efforts to study, protect, and raise awareness of this vulnerable species.