British-South African swimmer Lewis Pugh recently completed a 12-day, 59-mile swim around Martha’s Vineyard, the setting of the classic film Jaws, in an effort to raise awareness for shark conservation. Pugh became the first person to circumnavigate the Massachusetts island, describing the swim as “one of the toughest” of his life due to the “cold water, relentless wind, big waves and the constant thought of what might be beneath.” Pugh chose Martha’s Vineyard for the swim on the 50th anniversary of Jaws, seeking to challenge the common perception of sharks as “undersea monsters.” As he told PBS News, “For the past 50 years, it’s all been about fear and about the danger of sharks. What I want to do is I want to try to change the narrative for a new generation and say sharks actually bring life, they sustain life, they make oceans healthy.” (UPI)
