MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Estonian Olympic swimmer and Miami Beach resident Merle Liivand is better known as “Merle the Mermaid.”
She holds a swimming world record and she’s a dedicated environmentalist who is on a mission.
“It is an emergency in Olympics and it is an emergency in Biscayne Bay,” she said. “We’re 100 days away from the Paris Olympics. The open-water swimming might be cancelled because of pollution.”
Her mission is to highlight how the problem is also in Biscayne Bay, a problem that needs to be fixed.
“I’ve swum 162 kilometers worth of Guinness World Records to raise awareness that our oceans and bays and waterways are dying,” she said.
Liivand had planned to best her own world record swim across Biscayne Bay, but had to cancel it because the pollution levels have gotten so bad, with toxic levels of marine debris and plastic. She now travels the world to spread the message to save our waterways.
“As a swimmer, if you don’t know what is inside of the water, how can you be sure that your health is going to be fine every time when you train and swim in the water,” she said.
In honor of her efforts — and her birthday — a brand new 100% electric boat is now named after Merle the Mermaid. The announcement was made Wednesday at the Miami Yacht Club overlooking the bay.
“What I think is the coolest thing is that while everything may feel gloom and doom, we have climate technology and Miami is the climate technology hub,” Liivand said. “That just tells you that the world wants to see better solutions and there are better solutions so we need to get behind it.”