Endurance athlete begins swim around Martha’s Vineyard to change public perception of sharks

(15 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY OR FULLY COVERED++

ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts – 15 May 2025
1. Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard
2. Pugh entering the water
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“I've now been swimming for nearly 40 years in the world's oceans and over that period of time I have seen them change dramatically and I have always wanted to do a swim to talk about sharks and the 50th anniversary of Jaws which was filmed on this island is the perfect opportunity.”
4. Pugh swimming around Martha’s Vineyard
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“And it portrayed sharks as villains out to kill humans. They are obviously nothing of the sort. Sharks are essential for the health of our oceans.”
6. Pugh swimming around Martha’s Vineyard with boat in the background
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“The swim, I think, is going to take me 12 days to do. It's a very long swim. The water is incredibly cold. And because of measures which have been taken here off the east coast of the United States of America, there are obviously great whites in the water here.”
8. Pugh swimming around Martha’s Vineyard with Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse in background
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“Obviously, when you're swimming in close proximity to sharks, it is frightening. But I am much, much more frightened of a world without sharks.”
10. Pugh swimming around Martha’s Vineyard with Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse in background
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“About 274,000 sharks are killed every single day. It's completely unsustainable. It's an ecocide which is taking place.”
12. Pugh swimming in the ocean around Martha’s Vineyard
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer:
“We need to understand the oceans and life in our oceans. We need respect life in our oceans. And most importantly, we need to protect life in our oceans. All our futures rely on it.”
14. Pugh swimming in the ocean around Martha’s Vineyard with kayaker paddling beside him
STORYLINE:
Lewis Pugh has followed an unspoken rule during his career as one of the world’s most daring endurance swimmers: Don’t talk about sharks. But he plans to break that this week on a swim around Martha’s Vineyard, where “Jaws” was filmed 50 years ago.
The British-South African was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world — and has taken on extreme conditions everywhere from Mount Everest to the Arctic.

“On this swim, it’s very different: We’re just talking about sharks all the time,” joked Pugh, who will, as usual, wear no wetsuit.
For his swim around Martha’s Vineyard in 47-degree (8-degree Celsius) water he will wear just trunks, a cap and goggles.
Pugh, 55, is undertaking the challenge because he wants to change public perception around the now at-risk animals — which he said were maligned by the blockbuster film as “villains, as cold-blooded killers.” He will urge for more protection for sharks.

On Thursday, beginning at the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse, he will swim for three or four hours in the brutally cold surf, mark his progress and spend the rest of his waking hours on the Vineyard educating the public about sharks. Then, he'll get in the water and do it again — and again, for an estimated 12 days, or however long it takes him to complete the 62-mile (100-kilometer) swim.
“I’m more terrified of a world without sharks, or without predators,” he said.
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