Swimmer Lewis Pugh began swimming in waters with white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts

British athlete Lewis Pugh, known for swimming in the Arctic and Antarctic, began a 100-kilometer swim around the island of Martha's Vineyard in the US state of Massachusetts to draw attention to the need to protect white sharks. This was reported by the Associated Press on May 15.

The swimmer's route runs through the area where, according to the New England Aquarium, the first white shark sighting of the season was recently recorded off the coast of Nantucket Island.

Pugh started in water with a temperature of about 8 ° C at the beginning of the white shark migration season. He expects to cover a distance of 100 km in about 12 days.

"The swim is planned to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Jaws (Steven Spielberg's film. The 55-year-old swimmer specifically accepts the challenge because he wants to change the public perception of vulnerable animals. He says that the 1975 blockbuster slandered them," the publication clarified.

In August 2021, Pugh made the "coldest swim on Earth" in the Arctic to highlight the melting rate of the polar glaciers. He was swimming in almost freezing waters, and the cold wind made it even more difficult.