2nd Place Underwater Conservation

Tom Vierus

"Turtle Conservation"

Tom Vierus won a Choice of $400 gift cert from Bluewater Photo on any order of $1000 or more OR 40% off any order under $1000 OR $400 gift cert from Bluewater Travel on any personal dive trip of $1,000 or more from Bluewater Photo and Travel

The Story:

As part of a photographic assignment to document the turtle conservation program implemented by WWF Pacific in Fiji, I joined WWF staff & turtle monitor volunteers at three locations in the country. Besides monitoring and recording data from known nesting beaches, the teams also monitored adult turtle populations in the waters surrounding the islands. During one such scouting trip through the waters near Dravuni Island in Fiji's southern part, one of the villagers spotted a green turtle from the boat at about 20m depth. He was a skilled freediver and carefully slid into the water. I joined him shortly after and followed him down with my housing, freediving as far as I could with my skills and the housing with attachments. It was impressive to witness: He dove down, approached the turtle, caught it with his hands, and brought it to the boat, where he passed it to the team for a number of measurements. This is the moment you see in this photo. Time is of the essence, and everything has to go as fast as possible, so I knew I didn't have a lot of chances to capture this moment. I tried to get as close as possible while framing an over/under shot, minding the wave action, making sure the settings were on point and everything was in focus. After a few minutes, the turtle was released back into the water unharmed and swam off. The data will help to formulate robust conservation plans for the turtles in the waters of Fiji, an urgent necessity given that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies green turtles as' Endangered'.

Location:

Dravuni Island, Kadavu Province, Fiji

Equipment Used:

• Nikon D850 + Nikkor Fisheye lens 16mm f/2.8 in Aquatica Housing with two Inon Z240 strobes

Camera Settings:

• f/22
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 640