Endurance Swimmer Circles Martha’s Vineyard to Save Sharks \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ British-South African endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh completed a 60-mile swim around Martha’s Vineyard to raise awareness about shark conservation. Facing frigid waters, strong winds, and dangerous currents, Pugh swam over 12 days with minimal gear. His goal: to reshape global perceptions of sharks as “villains” and call attention to their rapid decline.
Quick Looks
- Swimmer: Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of the Oceans
- Distance: 60 miles (97 kilometers) over 12 days
- Location: Around Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
- Water Temp: 47°F (8°C) during early shark migration season
- Objective: Raise awareness for shark conservation, counter “Jaws” fear legacy
- Challenges: Strong winds, cold temps, rainstorms, dangerous currents
- End Point: Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse, near “Jaws” filming site
- Marine Life Seen: Sunfish, seals, terns—no shark encounters
- Shark Stats: 274,000 sharks killed daily worldwide
- Next Steps: Advocacy efforts in New York and global conservation outreach
Deep Look
Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh, a renowned British-South African ocean advocate and United Nations Patron of the Oceans, has added another historic achievement to his career: becoming the first person to swim around Martha’s Vineyard, a grueling 60-mile journey completed over 12 days, to spotlight the urgent need for shark conservation.
His swim, launched on May 15, wasn’t just about physical endurance. It was a message aimed at global consciousness — an attempt to reframe sharks not as the “villains” depicted in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, but as critical keystone species whose survival is essential to the health of ocean ecosystems.
Speaking after completing the final 1.2 miles at Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse — the very shores where Jaws was filmed — Pugh was reflective. “We’ve been fighting sharks for 50 years,” he said. “Now, we need to make peace with them.”
Pugh’s journey spanned about 24 hours of swimming across 12 non-consecutive days, braving 47°F (8°C) waters, often in brutal conditions. Equipped with only a swim cap, trunks, and goggles, he pressed on even as a nor’easter battered New England, dumping seven inches of rain and flooding local roads.
Some days, powerful currents and crashing waves meant he could only advance half a mile before being forced out of the water. Other days, he doubled back to make up the distance lost to weather setbacks. Throughout, he was shadowed by a support kayak fitted with a “Shark Shield”—a non-harmful device emitting a low-level electric field to deter curious predators without endangering marine life.
Although no sharks were spotted during the swim, the timing coincided with the first confirmed white shark sighting of the season near Nantucket, reported by the New England Aquarium. Instead, Pugh encountered sunfish, seals, and seabirds—a reminder of the rich biodiversity these Atlantic waters still support.
This feat marks another milestone in Pugh’s nearly 40-year swimming career, during which he’s conquered the North Pole, the Red Sea, the Arctic, and every ocean on Earth. He’s swum among polar bears, hippos, glaciers, and even volcanoes. But he called the Martha’s Vineyard swim “one of the most difficult” of his life, due to the prolonged exposure, physical toll, and constant mental strain.
“When you swim for 12 days, you leave as one person and return as another,” he said. “The sea has a way of reshaping you.”
The mission goes far beyond athleticism. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, approximately 274,000 sharks are killed every single day, a staggering figure totaling close to 100 million annually. Driven largely by commercial fishing, finning, and bycatch, this level of exploitation has decimated shark populations worldwide.
Pugh described this phenomenon as “ecocide” — a systematic destruction of the natural world. “Protecting sharks is the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to saving our oceans,” he emphasized.
Ironically, the setting of the swim pays homage to the cinematic myth he’s trying to undo. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, filmed on Martha’s Vineyard — portrayed as fictional Amity Island — instilled decades of fear and misinformation about sharks. Both Spielberg and author Peter Benchley later publicly expressed regret for the damage the story did to shark conservation and became advocates for marine protection.
After greeting fans on the beach and stepping out of the frigid Atlantic, Pugh’s first stop wasn’t a press room but a local ice cream shop — treating himself to a salted caramel and berry brownie cone. But even in celebration, he knows the hardest part is yet to come.
Next, he travels to New York to meet with media outlets and policymakers to amplify his conservation message. “Now the real hard work starts,” he said. “We must take this message to decision-makers around the world.”
Pugh’s symbolic circle around Martha’s Vineyard closes the loop on a half-century of shark demonization. His message is clear: sharks are not the enemy — extinction is.
Endurance Swimmer Circles Endurance Swimmer Circles
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