For nine-year-old Joseph Wilder, getting up close and personal with sharks is not scary.
The Vardon Primary pupil, who gathered more than 1000 signatures on his petition to ban shark finning, loves sharks so much he wanted to swim with them.
Earlier this month Joseph and his mum Jacinda, were able to go snorkelling in a cage with sharks at Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium.
Kelly Tarlton's staff were touched by the story in Hamilton News last year about Joseph's efforts to put a stop to shark finning. The company invited Joseph take part in the swim for free after reading how much he'd love to swim with sharks.
Joseph said the swim was fun but Jacinda considered it awesome but scary. "I did it with him, it's not like a metal cage, it's a netting type rope and no lid, not what I thought!"