Photographer’s exhibition gives humanity a wake-up call on its impact on wildlife  

World renowned South African photographer Chris Fallows’ latest exhibition The 11th Hour brings into sharp focus the urgency of humanity’s need to change its behaviour because of the impact on wildlife.

“One choice is of ultimate loss, including our own kind, based on ignorance, greed and inaction,” said Fallows.

“The other is of hope founded on corrective course and enlightenment.”

The 11th Hour is hosted by Dubai International Airport.

The exhibition is themed to a ticking-clock, where each hour is represented by a photo of an animal which has seen a decline in population as a result of human actions.

The photos range from elephants that are being wiped out through poaching and trafficking of Ivory, to wandering albatrosses who 15 out of the 22 species are threatened with extinction.

ALSO READ: Tax incentive introduced in SA for conservation of rhino and lions – but economist calls it ‘flimsy’

Shark Awareness

July 14 is Shark Awareness Shark Day, a day created to dispel myths about sharks and to raise awareness about the importance of sharks to the ocean.

The first three photos in The 11th Hour are of the flying great white sharks of South Africa.  

In 1996 Fallows was the first person to discover and photograph the now-famous breaching Great White Sharks of South Africa.

“It is an image showcasing the world’s most famous predator exhibiting the most spectacular behaviour seen by this species in its 50 million year existence on our planet,” said Fallows.

It was this discovery that bridged the gap between Fallows being a wildlife naturalist to a dedicated photographer intent on capturing this never-before-seen behaviour in order to showcase and bring it to the world.

After spending nearly three decades in the field Fallows built up a respected portfolio of iconic imagery and became world renowned authority on great white sharks.

between 2012-2014 Fallows and his team noticed a decline in their numbers, slow at first but then rapid.

“In 2018 I took this photograph, The Final Act, it was to be the last time the famous great whites of Seal Island would ever fly,” said the dedicated shark conservationist.

“Overfishing, archaic shark nets, finning and habitat change had wiped out in 22 years what had taken 50 million years to create.”

Fallows is a Wild Africa partner-Wild Africa is global movement that celebrate and protects African wildlife.

ALSO READ: Hawks bust illegal lion sale operation in Potchefstroom

Useful facts

• We’ve lost 71% of our sharks and rays in the last 50 years.
• Overfishing is the primary driver – the sharp decline since 1970 corresponds to an 18-fold increase in relative fishing pressure.
• Between 2012 and 2019, the number of sharks killed from fishing increased from some 76 million a year to more than 80 million. At least 25 million were threatened species.
• Finning has marginally declined over the past two decades, but policies requiring fishers to land whole sharks inadvertently incentivized a market for shark meat.
• In South Africa, great white sharks have been in decline at historical aggregation sites since 2013 (study co-authored by Chris Fallows)
• The data on great whites, as currently analysed and interpreted, cannot support population stability.

“Our oceans provide more than 50% of the air we breathe, absorb more than a quarter of our carbon emissions and feed more than a billion people,” Southern Africa Director at Wild Africa Guy Jennings said.

“We need healthy oceans, something that isn’t possible without keystone marine species, like sharks. It’s as Sylvia Earle said – no blue, no green.”

NOW READ: Where’s my leaf blower?