Who says mermaids do not exist?
A mermaid “Swimming for Life”
By Leonie Ruhland
Renate Herberger, a German mermaid living in Canada, is taking the term “swimming for life” very seriously. For many years, she has been swimming for months on end to attract the attention of the public and promote education about the current situation of the deep-blue sea.
We met Renate at the beautiful Ventanas beach where we interviewed her regarding her ongoing seventh swim, 20 kilometers off-shore the Costa Rican coast. “Overfishing worldwide has gone to such an extent that in a few years we won’t have any fish to eat,” Renate claims, and she is furious with those who don’t seem to care. She alludes to the fact that we would never, for example, fancy eating a cow´s heart and throw the rest away.
Yet, it is happening that 8000 tons of bycatch (endangering sea turtles, shrimps, and all sorts of juvenile fish) is thrown overboard every year. “To most people, the ocean seems to be a completely different world,” she says, “so far away from our very own awareness and responsibility.”
When she is not swimming eight hours a day along the coasts, Renate visits schools to educate kids about what is happening around them. In her opinion, it is basically ignorance that endangers the ocean so much.
She trusts that her actions will help raise awareness and wake people up.
“I am a solo.” Renate plans and organizes her own swim tours, and she relies on donations and support. She greatly appreciates any contribution to maintain her actions in favor of rescuing our ocean.
