Room to breathe

‘How do you take a story that you want to tell and show it through still photographs? There’s a bit of magic involved there, I think.’ Shane Gross travelled to D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll to document one of earth’s last living laboratories. ‘I want to get as close to the truth as possible,’ he says. And while many beautiful images of this tropical paradise have been taken before, a conservation story must hint at an ugly truth: life on our planet is in peril and near-pristine like D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll are disappearing.

It’s about trying to make an image that is somewhat different, so that people will pause for a second and try to figure it out. The more time they spend with something, the more opportunity you have to persuade them of an idea and make them feel something about how we need to change.

At over 100 years old, Petit Fours lords it over D'Arros Island, the territory that he and others like him acquired when they were re-introduced from Aldabra to other Seychelles islands.

Protecting biodiversity supports ocean health. The condition of shark pups that grow in St Joseph Atoll's protected waters, for instance, is better than that of pups growing up in more degraded coastal systems.

D'Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll are a fish diversity hotspot, where more than 497 bony fish species (like these giant trevallies) have been recorded, as well as some 17 shark and ray species. This accounts for nearly two-thirds of all reef-associated fish in Seychelles.

The near-pristine condition of D'Arros and St Joseph Atoll harbours wildness on a grand scale, from tiny crabs to baleen titans.

Peppered moray eels emerge from pools and slither over the rocks to hunt in the intertidal zone.

Research life on D'Arros Island is nothing if not varied: a changing climate, encroaching pollution and overfishing all need monitoring. Working on St Joseph Atoll (bottom, left) often means camping in high temperatures and humidity, among clouds of mosquitoes.

D'Arros Island and St Joseph is one of the most important areas in the Western Indian Ocean for the Critically Endangered hawksbill turtle and for the green turtle, which has recently been down-listed to Least Concern.

The declaration of marine protected areas like D'Arros helped Seychelles achieve 30% protection of its oceans.

Reef mantas are important distributors of nutrients across coral reefs. As of may 2025, more than 500 individuals have been identified in Seychelles.

On a mission to save the world, British Columbia native Shane hopes to continue making a living doing work that he believes in: supporting scientists, conservationists and fellow storytellers. Knowing he’ll be doing this for the rest of his life, all he hopes is that his health and circumstances allow it to be a long one.