Warning: upsetting image below
A stark reminder of the harm caused to nature by mankind has been caught in a harrowing image taken by a Ramsgate photographer.
The distressing shot of a gannet entangled in ghost fishing gear was taken by Rebecca Douglas when she travelled to Shetland in May to go snorkelling with diving gannets.
The image is now shortlisted for the conservation/impact category of Ocean Photographer of the Year after Rebecca felt compelled to use the photo to highlight the threats posed by plastic pollution to marine wildlife.
The branding and nature photographer said: “I have never witnessed anything quite like this moment. Nothing prepares you for the overwhelming sense of powerlessness when you realise you can’t do anything to help this bird.
“Witnessing this at Noss Island was a devastating sight, and it served as a stark reminder of the grave threats posed by plastic pollution to marine wildlife. These nets, lost or discarded by fishing vessels, drift through the ocean or lie abandoned on shorelines, becoming deadly traps for countless sea creatures.
“Gannets in particular are vulnerable because they often use material found in and around their habitats to build their nests, unknowingly selecting these ghost nets to build with. Turning their nests into potential death traps, endangering not just the adults but also their chicks.”
Rebecca, 40, said the sight gave her a “gut wrenching pain and rising anger at the harm humans are inflicting on nature.”
She says the aim in capturing the image was to make the bird’s life count, adding: “The gannet was spiralling around and swaying on the rope and I knew I needed to capture its profile to really narrate this horror.
“It is my hope that we’re able to amplify this gannet’s story to drive change that the ocean so urgently needs.”
Rebecca says the reason for entering it in the Ocean Photography competition is because she wanted to share “a visual cry for help from our oceans, embodied in the story of a single gannet.”
She added: “It is highly likely the gannet will have passed Thanet many times in its life, they live up to 35 years and fly to the same place each year to nest and then winter over Western Africa.
“I’ve seen many gannets passing by out to sea and so it just goes to underscore the interconnectedness of something that feels so far away.”
The Ocean Photographer of the Year is co-presented by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain. It is a celebration of the blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the plights it is facing.
There are 12 images, including Rebecca’s. in the Conservation (impact) category. Winners will be announced on September 12.
People can see the photo locally as part of Rebecca’s Wild Edges Exhibition at Albion House Hotel until 25th October. The exhibition also features underwater images from Rebecca;s snorkelling with gannets during the trip
Find details at https://rebeccadouglas.co.uk/wild-edges/
Find out more about Rebecca at: https://rebeccadouglas.co.uk/
