Conservation Ocean Photographer of the Year, ‘Shin’ Arunrugstichai

Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai is a Thai photojournalist and marine biologist centered on marine conservation and humanity’s advanced relationship with the ocean. An Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, a National Geographic Explorer and a Vital Impacts’ Sylvia Earle Grant recipient, Shin’s work spans from environmental crises to social points.

It was his picture of an aquarist holding a glass jar with an early-stage embryo of an Indo-Pacific Leopard shark – a part of a rearing experiment at Aquaria Phuket, one in every of Thailand’s largest non-public aquariums – that earned him first place within the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 Conservation (Hope) class.

“Since 2023, the aquarium’s staff-driven breeding program has produced over 40 pups of this Endangered species, listed on the IUCN Red List,” mentioned Arunrugstichai of the picture. “Aquaria Phuket now works with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, ReShark, WildAid, Ocean Blue Tree, and private partners on the StAR (Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery) Project Thailand, reintroducing these sharks to the wild, beginning August 2025.”

Oceanographic Magazine catches up with Arunrugstichai to be taught extra about his profession in award-winning photojournalism, the story behind this yr’s successful {photograph}, and what provides him hope for the ocean…

Oceanographic Magazine: Shin, I’ve been trying ahead to connecting with you for a very long time, understanding you as one in every of our Columnists and a daily title to look within the Ocean Photographer of the Year. Congratulations in your win on this yr’s Conservation (Hope) class.

Sirachai Arunrugstichai: Thank you, Rob and it’s nice to fulfill you and to be speaking with Oceanographic Magazine once more. 

OM: Let’s begin by attending to know you. We’re clearly followers of your work in photojournalism and the tales you handle to get near and convey residence, it’s a relentless supply of inspiration – to not point out content material… So, how did this all start for you?

Sirachai Arunrugstichai: Well, the place do I start? I’ve simply been interested by marine life since I used to be very younger. As children, we cherished fish. We at all times needed to go to the ocean. We may see some useless fish and decide up these fish to deliver again residence, simply to gather. I really like sharks. I bear in mind rising up and asking my mother and father to purchase the sharks in a neighborhood fish market, simply to deliver them residence, preserve them within the freezer and have a look at them. Maybe I used to be a little bit of a bizarre child… however I had this fascination with life within the ocean. 

I acquired to observe numerous documentaries and I began footage within the journal – all of it simply stored constructing my curiosity in marine life. But I by no means thought I’d really develop into a marine biologist. In Thailand, to make a residing in science, you in all probability should be an engineer or develop into a health care provider. There was by no means actually a lot alternative in different elements of science. I began to review a biomedical diploma for a couple of years, and thru this I began to achieve entry to environmental discipline journeys with my professors. I had already discovered to scuba dive and was part of a daily diving membership. 

One day I requested myself what sort of life I needed to have. Would I wish to be in a hospital all day? Or understanding within the discipline? It was then that I modified my profession path to environmental science. I did my thesis on coral reef restoration and I went to stay and work on an island for a couple of years, working with native communities on coral reef restoration initiatives.

It was at this level that I began to get into images – as a means of holding in contact with mates. I needed to doc and share what I used to be doing; educating children scuba diving, gathering knowledge on the coral reef and making synthetic reefs – letting individuals know what I used to be doing and the place I had disappeared to. 

I discovered images to be enjoyable.