Bleak photo of polar bear with plastic in its jaws in the remote Arctic shows pollution's 'pervasive grip'

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.

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) photograph highlights the scale of plastic pollution in the Arctic and the impact it has on regional species. Considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, polar bears face multiple threats. A 2016 study predicts their numbers will fall by 30% by the middle of the century.

Climate change is the primary threat, reducing the sea ice on which they hunt. However, plastic is compounding the problem. Polar bears are increasingly turning to landfills for food. An analysis of polar bear stomach contents from the population in the Southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska and Canada found 28% contained plastic. Half of the bears that had eaten plastic also had acute gastritis, potentially leading to painful blockages in their digestive system.

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"There are not enough data to get a clear picture, but it is probable that bears are more likely to ingest plastic when they find human trash as they seek food on shore," John Whiteman, chief research scientist at Polar Bears International and assistant professor of biology at Old Dominion University in Virginia, told Live Science in an email.

"Sea ice loss, and the resulting increase in time spent on land, is making it ever more important to find safe, long-term ways to manage trash — an issue that multiple Arctic communities have tackled with success," he added.