Some held signs and placards calling for clean oceans while others wore costumes as people were seen paddle-boarding out into the ocean.
Among the demands from activists was an end to sewage discharges into all bathing and high-priority nature sites by 2030.
The campaign, coordinated by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), saw protests at more than 30 locations.
In Brighton, Olympic gold medal runner and keen paddleboarder Dame Kelly Holmes addressed demonstrators through a megaphone before leading dozens in a paddle-out.
In Falmouth, surfers paddled out en-masse while sea-kayakers carried placards on their boats calling for fish not faeces. Meanwhile, more than 200 people entered the water at a wild swimming spot at Ferris Meadow Lake in Surrey.
Emma Jackson, who organised the Shepperton Open Water Swim event, said she was contacted by SAS after setting up a campaign to save the lake from the River Thames Scheme, which will build a new flood relief channel through the area.
She said the lake naturally cleans itself and was much safer to swim in than the Thames but, under the proposal, the lake would be connected to the river, leaving it in danger of contamination.
This story is from the May 19, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the May 19, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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