Zebedee Wakely recognises that getting sharks off the menu in Bermuda is not going to be an easy task.“Bermudians love their shark hash,” the ten-year-old certified diver told The Royal Gazette.“I want to make sharks a protected species, or as much as possible. One of the main things I have to say is the Turks Islanders used to eat lots of turtles. Then they said they needed to protect them. Now they get more tourists because of the turtles.”With avid divers Catherine and David Wakely for parents, it was only natural for Zebedee and younger sister Holly to take up the family sport.The Island’s youngest certified open water diver will probably keep his title until December, Mr Wakely said — when Holly, who turns ten, plans to get certified herself.“I know people listen to Zebedee talking about sharks, and they think, it’s his dad,” Mr Wakely said. “It’s the other way around. At the beginning, I was putting the brake on it.”UK-born Zebedee’s first experience of the water was at the tender age of six weeks. He grew up in Swaziland in Africa, and the family moved to Bermuda when he was three.Courtesy of the group Kids Sea Camp, Zebedee’s shark inspiration came when he swam with black-tipped reef sharks off the Pacific island of Palau last year.Back in Bermuda, he said: “I jumped in the water and said, where did all the sharks go?”Inspired to start his own web petition, Zebedee had picked up 672 signatures by this week.With his own information stall at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute for World Oceans Day on June 8, he began collected about 40 extra signatures on paper as well.He has spoken of the urgent need to protect sharks at his school, Warwick Academy.“My next step in Bermuda is to go to as many schools as possible and raise public awareness,” he said. “I have already spoken to [Environment Minister] Marc Bean and [Senior Marine Resources Officer] Tammy Trott about trying to get sharks protected.”Zebedee, who got an hour of Mr Bean’s time for his proposal to make Bermuda a shark sanctuary, said the Minister was encouragingly supportive.“I don’t know when it’s going to end,” he said. “When they say they’ll do as much as they can, I don’t know how much that is.”Options include “a shark season around Cup Match so people can catch them for shark hash, or just protecting certain species”, he said.His main goal: to pass on his love of sharks.“Toilets and toasters kill more people than sharks,” he said.“We need sharks in the ocean and people are killing them all off. Some people are afraid of sharks. What I hope to do is change that perception.”Zebedee has been invited by Kids Sea Camp to speak over the summer at the camp on the island of Utila, off Honduras, his father said.“The organisers of Kids Sea Camp have invited him to speak about what he’s been doing, to try and get other children from other countries interested in doing the same thing.”To find Zebedee’s petition, go to www.change.org, and search for ‘Bermuda Shark’.Useful websites: www.familydivers.com, www.projectaware.org.