Rodrigo came across this grim sight off Magdalena Bay on the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico.
He had followed the path of a fisherman’s buoy that had been dragged below the surface by a considerable weight. It had clearly been a monumental struggle. The young great white shark’s jaw jutted out at an ugly angle, evidence of how it had fought to escape from the hook before finally suffocating. ‘I was shocked,’ Rodrigo says. ‘Great whites are amazing, graceful and highly intelligent creatures. It was such a sad scene that I changed the image to black and white, which felt more dignified.’ The hook was on a long line of hooks, set up to catch blue and mako sharks. These baited long-lines may stretch for many miles and are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of animals every year, many of them endangered.
Mexico
Rodrigo became involved in photography as a teenager, while working as his father's assistant at the family's scuba diving business in the Mexican Caribbean. He has since worked on his own projects, focusing on the conservation of Mexico's oceans. He also enjoys exploring new sites and bringing back photos to share with his friends and family.
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