A British-South African endurance athlete has begun a swim from Lands End in southwest England to Dover in the southeast to raise awareness about plastic pollution in our seas.

Lewis Pugh's Long Swim at Sennen, Cornwall, began this morning. Swimming approx 350 miles from Lands End to Dover, the UN-Oceans representative is working with Surfers Against Sewage, one of the chosen charities of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, to raise awareness of the ocean plastics problem. He will be doing beach cleans along the way.

The Long Swim will also mark the start of a worldwide campaign entitled Action for Oceans, an initiative that is calling on governments to fully protect at least 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

At the end of the video, Lewis is seen talking at a beach-clean held at Marazion on Wednesday.