Swim for Clean Seas was set up in 2018 by Felicia Agmyren and Almer Agmyren, a brother sister duo that grew up in Abu Dhabi and are keen swimmers and scuba divers and freedivers. Having done a couple of long distance swims and dives they saw more plastic in the sea than ever before, less fish and dying coral. They thought of doing a big swim in Europe to raise awareness but thought the impact of that would be minimal, a blip in the media and gone – filed into the news archives. Instead they decided to engage directly the local community here in Abu Dhabi on a sustainability mission with the aim to raise awareness of what was happening beneath the surface of that beautiful sea line. Thus the Swim for Clean Seas initiative was born. We spoke to some experts and the more we learnt the more we realized the urgency of the cause and how most of us are not aware of what is going on. The oceans are the lungs of the earth and provide us with up to 8o% of the oxygen we breathe, the seaweed alone (of which we have plenty of here in the UAE) provides us with 54%. We need to engage, educate, take action and improve, and hopefully also reverse the damage that may have been done.