Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh circles island in 'Jaws' campaign

BBC News

4 days ago

An endurance swimmer has said "we must stop killing sharks" as he completed a 60-mile (96km) trek around the area where Jaws was filmed.Lewis Pugh, a conservationist from Plymouth, swam in stormy weather around the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, which was the main location for the Hollywood blockbuster released 50 years ago.Pugh completed the swim as part of a campaign to protect sharks which he said had become threatened by commercial fishing.The 55-year-old took 12 days to complete the challenge, which he said he hoped would "change the narrative" around sharks and highlight their importance to the seas.
He said the film Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, had cast sharks as the ultimate underwater villain.He said: "The movie Jaws was so effective, it shaped the narrative for the past 50 years."The aim of the swim was to change the narrative for a new generation."We need to change the narrative. Sharks are not monsters. They're magnificent, they're essential."Spielberg himself previously said he "truly regrets" the decimation of the shark population following the success of the Oscar-winning film.
'Indifference' threat
Pugh said sharks were apex predators who helped keep "oceans in balance", but claimed about 100 million were killed annually by the commercial fishing industry.He added there were other threats to the animals based on perceptions about them.He said: "The main direct threat is from commercial fishing and we have to stop killing sharks."But I think there's another threat we have to work so hard to tackle, and that's indifference - it's the belief that sharks somehow don't matter, that the ocean without sharks is safer for all of us."
Pugh said the swim left him physically and mentally exhausted and he had to battle against severe weather which hampered his efforts.He is due to attend the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, next month to call for an end to killing sharks and the creation of effective marine protected areas across 30% of the world's seas by 2030, known as "30×30".He said the campaign would also focus on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) conference at the end of the year, saying a number of shark species needed to be listed for the highest level of protection.