Entangled in a gillnet, this bigeye thresher shark is just one of an estimated 100 million sharks killed each year, many unintentionally, in the thousands of kilometres of gillnets strung out in the world's oceans.
Sharks play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and so their removal has long-lasting repercussions on fish stocks. Brian struggled for months to think of a way to represent the slaughter of sharks that would move people rather than just shock them. When he saw this scene, he knew he had found the symbolic image he needed. He was on a dive documenting the bycatch of gillnets in the Sea of Cortez. 'The shark had only just died, and it seemed to be looking directly at me, its pectoral fins outstretched as if in crucifixion.' Gillnets and longlines set by commercial fishing operations have wiped out more than 90 per cent of the predatory fish species in the Sea of Cortez.
USA
Brian is a photojournalist specialising in marine wildlife and underwater environments. He's the author of 10 books and has lectured at venues such as the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), The National Press Club in Washington, DC, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He has held solo exhibitions in cities such as Perpignan, Geneva, Barcelona, Lisbon, Shanghai and Washington, DC. In 2014 he was named a National Geographic Photography Fellow.
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