Changing the Story on Sharks
2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Jaws, the movie that portrayed the ocean’s apex predator as a ‘monster’, sparking irrational fear and retribution.
Shockingly, more than a third of shark species are now at risk of extinction. This is a disaster for ocean health.
In May, 2025, Lewis Pugh swam around the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where the movie Jaws was filmed, to highlight the perilous plight of sharks around the world.
The Shark Swim
Between 15 and 26 May 2025, Lewis Pugh swam 60 miles (96 km) around Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, where scenes of the movie Jaws were filmed. He swam swim approximately 6.2 miles (10 km) each day.
His swim demonstrated a healthy respect for the ocean’s most powerful predators, and highlights the role sharks play in keeping ocean ecosystems in healthy balance.
When he was not in the water, Lewis engaged with the public, shark scientists and advocates, local authorities and the media, to amplify the shark conservation message.
The Shark Swim launched in the US and will continue with more swims and events around the globe to encourage people to make peace with nature.
While you are here, please consider making a donation or buying a t-shirt or hoodie for yourself or a friend.
Together, with the generosity of our donors, we’re building global awareness of the vital role sharks play in healthy oceans. Your support will help us do even more.
Why Swim for Sharks?
A shocking 100 million sharks are still killed globally every year. That’s 274,000 killed each day, for their meat, oil, cartilage, fins …. and for sport.
Sharks are key indicators of ocean health. A decline in sharks signals a system out of balance.
Greater biodiversity helps ecosystems to be robust, resilient and adaptable in the face of global climate challenges. So removing sharks – or any other keystone species – makes it more difficult for an ecosystem to handle changes such as habitat destruction, pollution, rising temperatures, or all three.
Change fear into healthy respect
We want to challenge the idea that sharks are vicious, aggressive, bloodthirsty and vindictive. Our aim is to turn fear into healthy respect by amplifying the voice of the shark protection community, shining a light on innovative research and new insights.
The three-year programme will engage one billion people across the world, and will be a key component of our 30×30 call for at least 30% of the oceans to be protected by 2030.
Unanticipated Consequences
I couldn’t write Jaws today. The extensive new knowledge of sharks would make it impossible for me to create, in good conscience, a villain of the magnitude and malignity of the original.
Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, 1995
To this day, I regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. I really, truly regret that.
To this day, I regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. I really, truly regret that.
Steven Spielberg, Director of Jaws, 2022
Fifty years ago, a film designed to thrill and entertain audiences had unanticipated consequences. Jaws played on our primal fear of predators, which dates from an age when we lived much closer to nature and were more vulnerable than in our modern world.
Unfortunately, the film also triggered irrational fears of a creature we now know to be a crucial link in the ocean ecosystem.
In the years that followed, vendetta killings, shark-slaughtering tournaments, and industrial commercial fishing had a devastating effect on shark populations. Great White Sharks were almost wiped out on both the east and west coasts of the US.
The impact goes way beyond one species; it threatens an entire ocean ecosystem, which provides food security for billions of people. This is a major concern, particularly for the Global South.
What does it mean to be Apex?
Sharks are apex predators. They’re powerful. They’re efficient. They’re at the top of the food chain. They can be deadly. And our world would be lost without them.
Since 1970, the world has witnessed a staggering 70% decline in shark and ray populations.
Why is this a problem?
Wherever you find an apex predator, be it a wolf or a lion, a polar bear or a Great White Shark, you know it has evolved maintaining the balance of the ecosystem it lives in.
On land, apex predators maintain balance by keeping grazing stock in check and ensuring the survival of a rich variety of plants – a natural process known as the ‘trophic cascade’.
Sharks do the same thing in the ocean by eating species that feed on smaller fish. By doing this, they act as ‘gamekeepers’, allowing coral reefs and fish nurseries to thrive. Without them, ocean ecosystems collapse.
LPF’s Shark Advocacy
During the three-year campaign, LPF will be calling on nations to:
Expand Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around the world to address biodiversity loss. Currently only 3% of oceans are fully protected.
Highlight the threat caused by the trade in shark products, and in particular shark fins. Overfishing is the main reason for the global decline in sharks.
Support the US Marine Mammal Protection Act 1972 – marine mammals like seals are one of the main prey for sharks.
Highlight the vulnerability of shark species at risk of extinction.
Challenge competitive shark fishing tournaments. In 2017, LPF successfully pressurised a number of major corporations to withdraw their sponsorship and support.
Please consider donating to help us achieve these aims.
Timeline
15 – 26 May
The Shark Swim – Martha’s Vineyard
27 – 30 May
Post-swim media interviews
9 – 13 June
UN Oceans Conference – Nice, France
20 June
Jaws 50th Anniversary
9 – 12 September
UN General Assembly – NYC
10 – 21 November
COP30 – Belém, Brazil
24 November – 5 December
CITES – Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Image Credits
