At arena, we care about water and our most abundant natural resource is integral to the brand’s heritage and DNA. For World Oceans Day this June, arena is therefore proud to support Sea Shepherd in their mission to clean up and protect the oceans by launching a 10-day ‘Swim 4 the Seas’ challenge in partnership with Strava, the first of its kind on the worldwide social network for athletes.
From June 3rd to 12th, arena is challenging swimmers around the world to complete 4km in 10 days on Strava. In return for each completed challenge, arena and Sea Shepherd commit to cleaning the equivalent of 200 single use plastic bags worth of discarded nets, longlines and illegal FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) from our oceans.
arena CEO Peter Graschi commented: “Whether it’s at the pool, the lake or in the ocean, we encourage everyone and their friends to take on the ‘Swim 4 the Seas’ challenge on Strava and help clean up our oceans one stroke at a time. We want to hit 5,000 people worldwide completing the 4km swim in ten days so that we can remove the equivalent of 1 million plastic bags to mark this year’s World Oceans Day. We care passionately about our planet, so arena are proud to commit to work with Sea Shepherd to take action to protect our most precious natural resource. Swim your way to cleaner oceans and help us make a positive impact. The oceans are suffocating from plastic so let’s get swimming!”
Swimmers can register for more information on the 10-day challenge here: https://swim4theseas.arenasport.com/en/
And share progress with arena on Instagram @arenaopenwater using the #Swim4TheSeas hashtag.
For Strava users in Europe and the United States, a bonus prize will be unlocked upon completion of the challenge.
Sea Shepherd’s sole mission is to protect and conserve the world’s oceans and marine wildlife. FADs are some of the deadliest fishing gear in the ocean. These flotation devices, intended to lure in fish, are often made from plastic and other non-biodegradable materials, including a long propylene line to anchor the FAD to the seabed. The fishermen then encircle the FAD with their nets, capturing everything in its path. This results in the unintended capture -- or bycatch -- of juvenile fish and other species, including endangered sea turtles and marine mammals, which can get tangled, injured, and drowned by the propylene line. And worse, an estimated 60% of FADs become lost or abandoned at sea as "ghost gear" that pollute the ocean. Another example of ghost gear are the illegal spadare drift nets, true walls of death which are often abandoned at sea, indiscriminately trapping and killing marine wildlife such as turtles, dolphins, sperm whales, fin whales and sharks for decades if not retrieved."
