An image capturing a polar bear with plastic hanging from its jaws has been shortlisted for the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 award. The image, taken on Kiepert Island in the Svalbard archipelago off Norway, by photonaturalist Celia Kujala serves as a "a stark reminder that even the uninhabited reaches of the Arctic are not exempt from the pervasive grip of plastic pollution," competition representatives wrote in a statement emailed to Live Science.
The photograph is shortlisted in the Ocean Conservation Photographer of the Year (Impact) category, which also includes a photo of a dead fin whale waiting to be butchered at a facility in Iceland, shark fins drying on a roof in Indonesia and a gannet, a large white seabird with a yellowish head, trapped in discarded fishing gear hanging from a cliff.
