Photo of fish in Covid glove on shortlist for prestigious nature prize
With his photo of a fish trapped in a rubber glove, external PhD candidate Auke-Florian Hiemstra has made it to the shortlist for the People’s Choice Award in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The photo shows the impact of Covid litter on wildlife.
The photo of a trapped young perch is one of 25 on the shortlist. The photos were chosen from an incredible 38,575 images by photographers from 93 countries. You can vote for your favourite on the Natural History Museum website.
Danger to wildlife
Hiemstra took the photo at the start of the pandemic. He discovered the fish during a Plastic Spotter canal clean-up in the centre of Leiden. ‘Every week volunteers take to the canals in canoes to clean up and map out litter. The glove fish was one of our first Covid litter victims and ironically enough shows that the material that protects us can be a great danger to wildlife.’
Cast your vote
The photo served as the basis for research by Leiden University and Naturalis Biodiversity Center into the impact of Covid litter on wildlife. It also featured in The Guardian and National Geographic and also made it to CNN earlier this year.
Cast your vote for Auke-Florian Hiemstra’s photo. Voting closes at 14.00 GMT on 2 February 2023.
Photo: Auke-Florian Hiemstra