PROOF
THE BACKSTORY
FRESHWATER IS LESS THAN 3 PERCENT OF EARTH’S WATER,
BUT IT IS HOME TO ALMOST HALF OF ALL FISH SPECIES.DAVID HERASIMTSCHUK often spends
as many as 10 hours in water not
much warmer than freezing. He floats
and bobs in a dry suit, clutching his
camera—and waiting. You wouldn’t
know it from his extreme patience, but
he’s actually in a rush. “Many of these
species have been around for millions of
years,” he says, “and it’s only in the last
hundred that they’ve started to vanish.”
Herasimtschuk is a photographer
and cinematographer for Freshwaters
Illustrated, a conservation nonprofit
that sends him around the world to
document imperiled wildlife in lakes,
rivers, and creeks. Scientists believe
that more than 20 percent of fresh-
water fish species are threatened or
already extinct, as dams constrain
migration routes and habitats are made
inhospitable by pollution runoff and
rising water temperatures.These losses affect humans too.
Drinkable freshwater depends on thriv-
ing ecosystems. Bivalves and wetland
plants absorb pollutants, and some ani-
mals consume detritus that lowers water
quality. Their roles often have been
overlooked—but now contamination
is becoming more than they can handle.
Many underwater photographers
prefer the ocean’s majestic whales,
sharks, and coral reefs. Herasimt-
schuk’s subjects are smaller: endemic
fish, aquatic salamanders, water snakes.
Pollution swept into their habitats by
even moderate rainfall can smother
them. They’re skittish around humans,
so Herasimtschuk’s patience doesn’t
always pay off. Yet he persists, mindful
that he’s racing against the clock of
extinction. “There’s all this life that’s
disappearing,” he says. And time is
running out. —MELISSA SURANHerasimtschuk shoots photos in freshwater, such as the biologically diverse Tellico River.14 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC