Photo of anchovy fishing in Phu Yen wins int’l prize for marine conservation

‘Big Appetite’ shows local fishermen casting nets off Yen Islet in the central province.

Thien also won the Save Our Seas Foundation’s Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year award.

Thien said: “Salted anchovy is the most important raw material to create traditional Vietnamese fish sauce, but anchovies are a little fish with a big impact. When they are overfished, whales, tuna, seabirds, and other marine predators that rely on them as a dietary staple face starvation and population decline.”

Vietnam faces an overfishing situation with anchovy catches decreasing by 20-30 percent over the past decade, according to the Seafood Research Institute.

Instituted in 1965, the U.K.’s Underwater Photographer of the Year contest aims to celebrate photography beneath the surface of oceans, lakes, rivers, and even swimming pools.

This year’s contest received over 4,200 entries from 71 countries and territories in categories including Wide Angle, Macro, Wrecks, Behavior, Portrait, Black and White, Compact, Up and Coming, and Marine Conservation.

Rafael Fernandez Caballero of Spain was named Underwater Photographer of the Year for his image of five whale sharks feeding together off the Maldives coast.