Fred Le Manach, Daniel Pauly, Claire Nouvian and Didier Gascuel. Photo by Steve Fiehl© for BLOOM.
The Sea Around Us PI, Dr. Daniel Pauly, together with our advisory board member and founder of BLOOM, Claire Nouvian, advisory board member, Dr. Rashid Sumaila, and long-time collaborators, Dr. Didier Gascuel and Dr. Frédéric Le Manach, are among the scientists, activists, public servants, and students whose portraits are on display along the streets of Paris as part of the Biennale Photoclimat.
Photoclimat is a free, outdoor environmental and social biennial taking place from September 12th to October 12th, 2025, in the French capital. Through artistic photography exhibitions, meetings, and performances, the event aims to highlight the work of NGOs and foundations focusing on safeguarding the natural world and to create awareness of pressing societal and environmental issues.
Fishing down marine food webs, which is the process whereby fisheries in a given ecosystem, having depleted the large predatory fish on top of the food chain, turn to increasingly smaller species, finally ending up with previously spurned small fish and invertebrates, is represented by a grim portrait of Dr. Pauly holding a tiny sardine.
In a similar sombre tone, Dr. Rashid Sumaila is presented surrounded by dangling banknotes, which reference the harmful subsidies many industrial fishing fleets receive, enabling them to target overfished stocks, engage in overfishing and unregulated fishing practices, as well as perpetrate labour and human rights abuses.
Dr. Rashid Sumaila’s portrait at the centre. Photo by Steve Fiehl© for BLOOM.
Claire Nouvian, sporting a crown of beautiful marine species, is presented as the Erin Brockovich of the oceans for her campaigns to end fishing methods that are destructive to the ocean and the climate.
Dr. Gascuel’s image illustrates the problem of the misuse of fish nets, as small mesh sizes can lead to catching juvenile fish that have yet to reproduce.
Dr. Le Manach’s photo, on the other hand, illustrates the bloody massacre of marine species allowed by the use of fish aggregating devices.
The photos of Dr. Pauly and his colleagues can be found along the Quais de Seine, between the Pont au Change (Châtelet) and the Pont Notre Dame.
Photoclimat by the Seine. Photo by Steve Fiehl.
Photoclimat by the Seine. Photo by Steve Fiehl.
Photoclimat by the Seine. Photo by Steve Fiehl.
Photo by Steve Fiehl.
Photoclimat by the Seine. Photo by Steve Fiehl.