The IUCN has announced the winner of its Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.
The overall winner was William Goodwin with his photo "Grouper Peek-a-Boo". Mr Goodwin who last year received an award from the The National Geographic Society for his photograph of a Peppermint shrimp said:
"I have been diving and creating underwater photographs for 50 years. My reverence for the world’s oceans has led me to write a book with contributions from four leading biologists about the amazing world of marine sponges to be published in 2012 entitled The First Animal.
"My wife, Donna, and I created the Cayman Islands Underwater Image Bank for Students and Teachers to help increase understanding of and appreciation for the dwindling resources beneath the sea. I have seen our mother ocean decline during my life and I long for my grandchildren to know it the way it was."
Andre Seale with his Submerged Mangrove photograph came second. Dr. Seale is a research scientist, author and award-winning wildlife photographer. Over the last 18 years Dr Searle has won a number of photography competitions including BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year. His images have been featured in hundreds of publications worldwide, in his book Tropical Marine Gardens.
In third place was Lill Haugen’s photograph Coral Fans and Diver.
The judges of the competition commended all 132 photographs they received for the exceptional quality and creativity.
Here are a few of PFK's favourites:
Kiss of Gobies, Philippines by Jean Louis Ferretti.
Coral polyps, Indonesia by Trond Larsen.
Fish cleaning station, Taiwan by Thomas Koenig.
See more images from the competition.
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