An abandoned fishing net tangled in a mangrove tree in India has won the overall prize at the 2026 Mangrove Photography Awards, drawing attention to the growing environmental threat posed by discarded fishing equipment.

The winning photograph was taken by Indian marine biologist and photographer Gaurav Patil at Nandgaon village in Maharashtra, south of Mumbai. Using a 13-second ultraviolet exposure, Patil captured the abandoned net glowing in the darkness as it became entangled in the branches of a mangrove tree.

The photograph, titled “Tangled glow: When life meets the ruins,” highlights what Patil described as an overlooked environmental problem. Abandoned fishing nets, commonly known as “ghost nets,” can remain in marine environments for years, trapping wildlife, damaging vegetation and eventually breaking down into microplastics.

Patil said he had repeatedly encountered discarded fishing nets caught among India’s mangroves. He chose to document the problem artistically in an effort to draw greater public attention to an issue that remains unresolved.

Mangroves play an important role in protecting coastal communities and ecosystems. India has almost 5,000 square kilometres of mangrove cover along its coastline, including part of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. These ecosystems provide habitat for wildlife, help reduce coastal erosion, store significant amounts of carbon and support communities dependent on fishing and tourism.

However, mangroves face growing pressure from several threats, including discarded fishing equipment, rising sea levels, aquaculture and coastal development. In Mumbai, a road-building project approved by the Bombay High Court in December 2025 could affect more than 45,000 mangrove trees along the city’s western coast.

The environmental problem extends beyond India. The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes of fishing equipment are abandoned in the world’s oceans every year. An assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature has also found that more than half of the world’s mangrove ecosystems could be at risk of collapse by 2050.

Other winning photographs in the competition highlighted the biodiversity supported by mangrove habitats, featuring species such as jungle cats, Bengal tigers, bottlenose dolphins and Nile monitors.

Leo Thom, founder and creative director of the Mangrove Photography Awards, said visual storytelling could help increase public awareness of threats facing mangrove ecosystems. He also emphasized the importance of restoration methods that restore natural water flows rather than relying solely on large-scale planting projects.

The awards’ Conservation and Restoration category was won by Indonesian photographer Garry Lotulung. His photograph shows Pasijah, a 56-year-old resident of Bedono, Central Java, planting mangrove seedlings beside her flooded home. Pasijah and her son previously planted 15,000 seedlings in one day, but the seedlings were washed away by waves the following morning.

The 2026 competition received more than 5,000 entries, according to the organizers, compared with fewer than 100 submissions when the awards began. Organizers said the growing participation reflects increasing attention to the importance of mangroves for climate resilience and coastal protection.

SOURCE: CNN, Salome Grouard, July 24, 2026. Mangrove Photography Awards 2026.