Durban — Record-breaking endurance swimmer Sarah Ferguson, is calling on fellow ocean swimmers to join her at the Ardagh Glass Packaging World Oceans Day Swim on June 10 and help the ongoing fight against plastic pollution.

The swim takes place from the Durban Beach Club and offers swimmers the option of distances ranging from 800m, through the traditional Mile or 1.6km, up to a testing 3.2km and the even longer 5km distance.

Since retiring from international competition, Durban’s Ferguson has notched up an impressive list of record-breaking achievements, including the first swim around Easter Island, which earned her a nomination for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, and in 2017 she became the first African woman to swim the 42km Kai’wi channel between Oahua and Molokai in Hawaii.

Ferguson is also an ardent conservationist.

She said the primary objective of this event is to get swimmers and the public involved in their love of the sport.

“But I hope it will help swimmers realise they need to do something about protecting the ocean because it has been badly affected by our behaviour.

“There are three major threats to our oceans: overfishing, climate change and plastic pollution. The reason I focus on plastic pollution is because, when I started this journey, it was not really being spoken about as much as overfishing and climate change,” she said.

Ferguson said there are also many other threats, such as sewage, seismic drilling and drilling for oil, but plastics are so dangerous for so many reasons.

“Also, plastic is known to suffocate sea animals, and sea birds are ingesting plastic and causing them to starve to death. There is also research which shows that birds are getting diseases from the microplastics which are breaking down in their bodies,” Ferguson said.

The funds raised by the event will exclusively be used for education programmes and projects run by Breathe, a conservation non-profit organisation registered by Ferguson primarily to educate people about oceans and plastic pollution.

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