Nicole Tung has been selected as the winner of the 15th edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, focusing on Southeast Asia and human rights and environmental violations related to illegal fishing and overfishing. The award was officially announced and her work was unveiled at the Visa pour l'Image festival on Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 9 p.m. (CEST), followed by a conference on Friday, September 5.
Her comprehensive report, conducted over nine months with support from the Carmignac Foundation, examines the complex dynamics of industrial fishing in the region and its consequences on marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Through field reporting in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, Tung documents a highly opaque industry with often limited access, particularly at sea, where operations remain largely hidden from public view.
Her investigation explores critical issues including the rollback of fishing regulations, the impact of geopolitical pressures on local fishermen, and the working conditions of migrant workers at sea. In Thailand, she examines how reforms introduced after reports on sea slavery were published in 2015 improved working conditions but now risk being reversed as the government's ties with the fishing industry strengthen.
In the Philippines, she focused on escalating geopolitical tensions in the region, documenting how the growing dominance of Chinese maritime forces has made fishing areas increasingly inaccessible, resulting in significant income and livelihood losses for local communities. Her investigation into the tuna trade highlights the difficulties in tracing global seafood supply chains from small coastal canneries to sushi markets in Japan and beyond, emphasizing the lack of transparency.
In Indonesia, Nicole gathered testimonies of extreme violence at sea, including debt bondage recruitment, wage withholding, and violence aboard foreign vessels. She also investigated the shark trade, where meat is sold locally while fins and bones are exported, primarily to China and Hong Kong, for use in cosmetics and traditional medicine. Her work also covers the effectiveness of marine protected areas, alternative livelihoods through tourism, and the impact of global seafood supply chains.
Southeast Asia plays a central role in global fishing, accounting for more than half of the world's fish production. However, the region is also one of the most affected by illegal fishing, environmental degradation, and widespread labor exploitation, all factors that threaten the future of marine ecosystems and the coastal communities that depend on them.
Nicole Tung is an independent photojournalist born in Hong Kong. A 2009 graduate of New York University, she works freelance for international publications and NGOs, primarily covering the Middle East region. Since 2011, she has extensively covered conflicts in Libya and Syria, focusing on the fate of civilians, the lives of Native American veterans in the United States, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and the consequences of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Her work often explores people most affected by conflicts and the consequences of war.
Tung has been documenting the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022 for publications such as Harper's Magazine, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, as well as the aftermath of devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023. Her work has been exhibited at various festivals worldwide and has received numerous awards. In 2025, Nicole was part of the New York Times team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography and also received the Philip Jones Griffiths Award. She is based in Istanbul.
A conference featuring Nicole Tung and Charles Autheman, international consultant on labor law and human rights and lecturer at HEC and Sciences Po Paris, is scheduled for Friday, September 5, 2025, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Visa pour l'Image Festival, Charles Trénet Auditorium, Perpignan, France.
