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Louisa Wood

How capturing the benefits of open-water swimming can drive better management of aquatic sites

Link to the survey is here!



Humans have long known the joys of swimming in open water. The sun on your back, the birds overhead, and the feeling of just being alive when swimming outdoors are sensations that sustain many of us. Given life’s stresses and unpredictability, more and more of us are turning to open water swimming as a natural tonic.


The non-material benefits that we obtain from interacting with nature have been defined by scientists and policy makers as cultural ecosystem services. These services are experienced by many open-water swimmers that regularly swim in open water bodies, but they are hard to define and accurately measure and quantify. Do you feel an endorphin high, increased connection to nature or a stronger bond with friends and family after a swim in the outdoors? All of these feelings and experiences are types of cultural ecosystem service, and their significance will be different for all of us.


The importance of cultural ecosystem service benefits is often overlooked in management planning and political decision making despite an increasing awareness that interacting with nature is critical to our physical and mental well-being. As researchers and full-time open water swimmers, Ross and myself are all too aware of the importance of capturing the value of open water swimming to UK water users. The world’s population is growing and increasingly putting human pressure on the landscape. If we are to manage our aquatic resources, we need to understand their importance to all types of water user, and make sure this is fully communicated to policy makers.


In this survey we want to get an understanding of why swimming is important to you and what sort of benefits you get from it. Is there anything that puts you off getting in for your daily dip? Perhaps some toxic runoff further upstream that is polluting the water, or an outbreak of stinging jellyfish? Personally, spending time on the coast since a young age and regularly sea swimming has made me more environmentally conscious, arguably sewing the seed for a career in marine research. But is this true for all of us? How many of you feel more connected to nature and its conservation after a nice cold dip?


You can find the link to our survey here. Please fill it in for us! Results of this study will be written up and disseminated to policy makers in order to improve the evidence base for policy decisions.


Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up article with the results!


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