Great insights. Thank you for calling on more underwater photographers to think about making these types of images...we sure need it.

Super interesting discussion, and something I have wondered myself. My perspective is as a South African trying to get into underwater conservation photography. Cost and competitiveness is the biggest reason, here at least, that there is very little underwater conservation photography. Most photographers locally have earned their wealth in jobs outside of underwater activities, and there is a big push away from environmentalist work due to its difficulty in getting a sustainable job. Also far less younger scuba divers, as the hobby is getting more and more expensive. Marine internships are mostly full of foreigners who pay money that local people cannot afford. Many people locally are interested. In South Africa there is also a lot more focus on terrestrial wildlife as it draws in far more tourists. Africageographic essentially a safari selling website rather than the "geographic" counterparts in other countries. Underwater advocacy has little traction outside of tertiary education institutes departments, or small marine communities. But then again, it's hard to justify the cost of underwater photography when youth unemployment is above 40%, and people are starving and dying of diseases every day that are almost non-existent in the Western world.