Photo Competition Shines a Light on Mangrove Forests Around the World

A juvenile royal Bengal tiger by photographer Avijit Ghorai, left, a white-fronted lemur navigates the mangroves of Madagascar, right, photo by Raj Hassanaly.

The winners of the Mangrove Photography Awards 206 have been announced, celebrating the unique waterworld that permeates tropical areas.

Indian photographer Guarav Patil has won the competition for his photo of a ghost net glowing under ultraviolet light, tangled in a mangrove on the tide-swept shore of Nandgaon village, Maharashtra, south of Mumbai.

Captured on a 13-second UV exposure, the image reveals a quieter conservation crisis: discarded fishing nets carried in by currents and trapped in mangroves, turning these vital coastal barriers into hidden garbage hotspots.

While ghost gear’s impact on open-water marine life is increasingly documented, its accumulation in mangrove ecosystems on India’s coast has received far less attention. Mangroves sit at the interface between land and sea, meaning they can end up receiving waste from both directions.

Overall winner. Guarav Patil.

There are also winners across six categories, including Wildlife, Landscape, Underwater, Threats, People and Conservation Stories — along with the Young Mangrove Photographer of the Year, the Emirates Award, the Arabian Gulf Award and the UNESCO Award.

Winner of the Birds category. A small group of American Flamingos peer at a juvenile Lemon Shark while searching for suitable foraging habitat in the mangrove-lined shallow backwaters of Florida Bay, Florida. | Mark Ian Cook

Runner-up in the Birds category. An Indian white-eye comes in to land among the branches of a mangrove tree on Iran’s coast. The species is closely tied to mangrove habitat, foraging and nesting among the leaves and branches. | Erfan Samanfar

Winner of the Mammals category. Two jungle cat kittens emerge from the dense mangrove forest in the Sundarban Tiger Reserve. A rare glimpse of the smaller, lesser-known wildlife that shares this tidal landscape with the reserve’s tigers, and survives its shifting mud, saline water, and daily tidal flooding. | Kallol Mukherjee

Runner-up in the Mammals category. A Silky anteater asleep on a red mangrove tree at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, Caroni Swamp. Though the silky anteater is classified globally as “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, they still face significant risks in Trinidad due to habitat destruction, forest fires, and illegal hunting. Silky anteaters are the smallest species of anteater in the world. | Kerron Noel

Winner of the Other Species category. A juvenile green turtle is seen seeking refuge in a mangrove forest. | Evan Cooper

Highly commended in the Other Species category. Two mudskippers face off on wet mud, mouths agape and fins raised in a territorial display, their blue spotted patterns catching the light. A vivid glimpse of the Sundarbans’ tidal flats, where these fish walk, jump, and breathe on land. | Ashok Behera

Winner of the Landscape – Black and White category. An island shaped like a footprint emerges from Kerala’s backwaters, its mangroves tracing the toes and sole of the print. Many of these islands were once mangrove forest before being cleared for coconut plantations — on some, the mangroves are now reclaiming that ground. A quiet mark of where nature stepped away, and where it’s stepping back in. | Abijith Soman

Winner of the Underwater category. Grey snappers hunt through a school of baitfish beneath the mangrove canopy of Lac Bay, Bonaire — captured during a fish monitoring survey, as shafts of midday light revealed predator-prey interactions usually hidden in these submerged forests. A reminder that Bonaire’s celebrated reefs depend on the mangroves that shelter and feed them. | Ewan Tregarot

Runner-up in the Underwater category. An Anhinga — the “snakebird” — begins its underwater hunt in a mangrove lagoon, its unwaterproofed feathers letting it dive and glide like a dart through the water column. | Valentina Cucchiara

Winner of the Landscale – On the Ground category. Under the Milky Way, a solitary mangrove stands in shallow tidal water, its reflection still in the low tide — a quiet pairing of ancient starlight with one of Earth’s most vital coastal ecosystems. | Ryuhei Suguri

Winner of the People – Conservation andd Restoration category. Pasijah, 56, plants mangrove seedlings beside her flooded home in Bedono, Demak, Central Java — one of the last residents remaining after more than 200 families left as rising seas and land subsidence submerged the village. | Garry Lotulung

Highly coommended in the Conservation and Restoration category. Children leap joyfully from the branches of a mangrove tree in the Philippines. | Mark Kevin Badayos

For more information about the contest, and to see all the winners, head to the Mangrove Photography Awards website.

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