Oceans are in crisis, warns endurance swimmer nearing end of Channel challenge

Updated

Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is nearing the end of his bid to swim the length of the English Channel and is determined his deeds are followed by action to help the oceans, led by the UK Government.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove is among those set to welcome Mr Pugh to Dover, Kent, next week as the 48-year-old Plymouth-born campaigner completes The Long Swim.

Mr Pugh is scheduled to finish on August 29 on Shakespeare Beach, the traditional starting point for swimmers seeking to cross the Channel.

The UN patron of the oceans began his swim at Land's End in Cornwall on July 12 and now has fewer than 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the 530km (329.5 miles) total to go, having rounded Beachy Head near Eastbourne on Monday.

Lewis Pugh
Lewis Pugh

He told the Press Association: "My message is going to be very, very simple: our oceans are in crisis.

"Unless we take real, serious action now, it's very difficult for me to see how they can recover.

"It's not something you can keep putting off and putting off and putting off. We've done that for too long."

Mr Pugh is calling on the UK Government to urgently strengthen marine protected areas around the UK and its Overseas Territories.

He warned just seven square kilometres (2.7 square miles) of the 750,000 square kilometres (290,000 square miles) of UK coastal waters are currently fully protected, a figure he said "defies belief".

Mr Pugh has been swimming for 10km to 20km (six to 12 miles) daily in just Speedos, a cap and goggles - the permitted kit of Channel swimmers, under Channel Swimming Association rules - and taking part in beach cleans organised by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage.

He says collective action is necessary and individuals can make a difference.

Mr Pugh added: "We're not going to be able to protect our oceans unless us ordinary people are making changes, business are making changes and Government are also legislating. It can't just be one group.

"All of us have to come together to solve this crisis and it is a crisis. Each of us can do something."

Mr Pugh describes plastic pollution as "endemic", pointing to plastic entering the food chain through fish.

In 30 years swimming in the world's seas and oceans, including in the polar regions to highlight the melting ice caps, Mr Pugh has noticed seismic changes as a result of over-fishing, pollution and climate change.

The Long Swim campaign
The Long Swim campaign

"When you see what's happening in the Arctic you realise how quickly things are changing," he said.

"I did my first swim in 2005, high up in the Arctic, north of the island of Spitsbergen (in Norway). This is just 1,000km away from the North Pole and the water was three degrees Centigrade.

"I went back there last year and the water was no longer three degrees Centigrade, it was 10 degrees Centigrade.

"The English Channel is colder than 10 degrees Centigrade in winter.

"If you've got 10 degrees Centigrade water up against Arctic ice packs, up against glaciers, that ice is going to melt.

"It's going to have a profound impact on all of us around the world."

United States President Donald Trump is one of the global leaders Mr Pugh has to convince - and the swimmer's next stop is addressing the G7's environment, energy and ocean ministers in Nova Scotia in September.

Mr Pugh said: "I disagree with President Trump on environmental issues.

"I think every single nation is going to have to work together to protect the environment.

"And if we don't, all of us are going to be impacted, every single one of us around the world. And so I would urge him to look into the science."

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