Today I'd like to tell the story of Jamin, a 10-foot female tiger shark, and how she became a supermodel on my expeditions on the Shearwater. Tiger sharks are incredibly curious, intelligent, and quick learners. It only took once incident, my removing a hook from Jamin's jaw hinge, to turn her from a cautious wild shark into a friend.

I wrote the following Ode to Madonna while I was waiting for the sharks of Polynesia to be protected by law, which took an extraordinarily long time. I am republishing it here to honor not only Madonna but all the sharks who are being yanked brutally onto ships, having their tails and fins sliced off, and being thrown roughly back into the ocean, to face the end of everything they have known, as consciousness fades and they sink, sink, and, writhing, sink into the abyss.

In "Saving Sharks: One hook at a time" I introduced Captain Ron and talked about how I removed a fish hook from his jaw. Last week I went back for a visit with Captain Ron to see how he was doing.

I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine, Captain Ron. I named him right after seeing the very funny 1992 movie of that name, because both Captain Rons are missing their left eye. This Captain Ron is an 8 foot male lemon shark, and whenever I see animals afflicted with some type of injury, I feel sorry for them, as I know they have to work that much harder in order to survive.

In recent weeks, the AB-376 shark fin debate in San Francisco has sparked much controversy and debate. Senator Leland Yee has even gone so far as to accuse the bill proposing a ban on shark fin trade as an “attack on Asian culture”. As a Chinese person living in Singapore, I feel compelled to offer my thoughts on this matter.

Eighty years ago, my grandfather endured the long and arduous journey across the South China Sea to start his new life in Singapore. He worked for the majority of his years, raising five sons and three daughters. My Ah Gong (as we affectionately called him) passed away without having once tasted shark fin soup.

This past week was SHARKTASTIC and I didn’t even go in the water. On Saturday January 29, I was able to join the RJ Marine Conservation Program and students from South Broward High School for a day of shark tagging. This program creates an opportunity for high school students from South Florida to get in the field and experience the work of a marine biologist. Living in South Florida, we are blessed with the Atlantic Ocean in our backyard. It is an amazing natural resource that needs to be protected.

We had a busy day on the boat with 5 nurse sharks, 1 tiger shark, 1 scalloped hammerhead and 5 great hammerheads! The project uses drum lines to fish for the sharks, as this allows the animal to move once it is hooked. The standard work up of a shark includes 3 length measurements ( 2 on a nurse shark), determining sex, taking a DNA sample, a biopsy, taking blood,  tagging the animal, removing the hook and releasing the animal.

A team of Hong Kong, US, and South African Shark Savers worked feverishly to get everything ready for a good show, designing a theme, banners for our booth, the first film from our recent production in Hong Kong, and other materials. With only weeks of lead time, the teams managed to get translation, artwork, video and content ready in record time.