“Smoking Fish” Captures the Conservation Ocean Photography Award
We humans have done more damage to our planet than we often realize. Knowingly or unknowingly, we keep harming the ecosystems that support life on Earth, and the cost of that damage is growing every year.
One of the most important things we can do is spread awareness about how our actions affect the ocean and its wildlife. Getting people to see the reality of ocean pollution is the first step toward making real change.
We live in a digital age where social media, photo-sharing platforms, and video channels give us powerful tools to spread a message to millions of people. Smartphones and apps make it easier than ever to share compelling images that tell a story and drive awareness.
Every year, the Ocean Photography Awards event recognizes photographers who capture stunning and meaningful images of the ocean’s ecosystem. The 2026 edition delivered something truly special and thought-provoking.
Ocean Photography Award 2026
This year’s Ocean Photography Award went to a sobering image of a “Smoking Fish.” The photograph was taken by the well-known photographer Steven Kovacs. It shows a fish with a discarded cigarette in its mouth, gumming the butt curiously as if it were food. The image is visually striking, but its real power lies in the message it sends to all of us about what we are doing to ocean life.
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What’s the Story Behind the Photo?
The photo shows a fish that appears to be “smoking” a discarded cigarette butt that was carelessly thrown into the water. Somebody tossed that cigarette, and the fish mistook it for food. This happens more often than most people realize.
Hundreds of species of fish and other marine animals live in our oceans. When we dump garbage, including cigarette butts, plastic, and other waste, into the water, we are directly threatening their survival. Countless marine animals die every year because they ingest or become entangled in human trash.
The fish in the photo is a Trachinocephalus myops, commonly known as a lizardfish. Lizardfish are typically found in the Atlantic Ocean, where they spend most of their time hiding on the sea floor while searching for prey. Because of the challenging conditions underwater, these fish tend to snap at anything that drifts by, hoping it is a meal.
That is exactly what happened here. The lizardfish grabbed a cigarette butt floating past in the current, thinking it was food, and began to swallow it. Steven Kovacs captured the moment and later shared the story on his social media.
Quick Smoke Break
According to Kovacs, this was nearly a tragic situation. The small snakefish (Trachinocephalus myops) snatched a cigarette butt drifting by in the current, mistaking it for a fish, and started swallowing it. Even after getting more than half the cigarette down, the fish still had not realized the mistake. Kovacs said he felt he needed to step in, since swallowing the rest of the cigarette would almost certainly have harmed or killed the fish. The photo was taken off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida.
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Wildlife photographers play an incredibly important role in conservation. They put themselves in challenging environments to capture real moments from the natural world, both on land and underwater. Their images help the rest of us understand what is happening in places we may never visit ourselves. Broadcasters like BBC Earth have produced entire series dedicated to spreading awareness about ocean conservation, and many other channels have followed with similar programming.
Several other award-winning photographs have surfaced that illustrate the human impact on the ocean’s ecosystem. One notable image shows a dead moray eel, another victim of pollution. There are many more photos like these available online, and sharing them is one way to contribute to the conversation about protecting our oceans.
Steven Kovacs’ photo is just one example of the damage we have caused. Garbage in the ocean is a growing crisis for marine animals, and we have to take steps to stop it before the damage becomes irreversible.
Take Away!
Many people do not fully appreciate how much we depend on the ocean. The ocean ecosystem alone provides roughly 50% of the oxygen we breathe. If we continue to pollute our waterways and dump waste into the sea, the long-term consequences will affect all of us.
Photos like Steven Kovacs’ “Smoking Fish” are important reminders that even something as small as a discarded cigarette butt can have deadly consequences for marine life. Every piece of trash that ends up in the ocean is a potential threat to an animal that calls it home.
