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

Lewis Pugh, a renowned endurance swimmer, is undertaking a challenging swim around Martha’s Vineyard to raise awareness about sharks, which have been negatively portrayed by the film “Jaws” for 50 years. Starting from Edgartown Harbor, he will swim in 47-degree water without a wetsuit for an estimated 12 days, while educating the public on the importance of shark conservation, as around 100 million sharks are killed annually. Pugh emphasizes the need to respect sharks and recognizes that fear, rooted in media portrayals, has hindered public understanding of their ecological role.