An Aboriginal Australian behind an exhibit at the United Nations has been using his art to sound the alarm over abandoned fishing nets.

Sid Bruce Short Joe from the remote Cape York community of Pormpuraaw takes these so-called “ghost nets” that wash up on the beach near his home and sculpts fish and other sea creatures out them.

He travelled to New York to take part in a historic conference convened at UN headquarters aimed at reversing the decline in the health of the world’s oceans.

These nets, used for commercial fishing, are frequently dumped overboard and then found by locals, washed up on the beach, often with dead fish entangled in them.

Mr Sid’s ancestors are freshwater people and the bullshark and blue lizard tongue are part of his lineage, he told Jocelyne Sambira, before breaking into song.

Duration: 4'02''