Unique Experiences

Item Description

Lunch or Dinner with Dr. Brian Darvell, shark conservationist and activist, in Bath or Chippenham, United Kingdom

Brian Darvell describes himself as a chemist (dental materials science), who has spent time at the Universities of Wales, Birmingham, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Kuwait, an avid collector of books, scuba diver and instructor, and a musician manqué, but with interests too eclectic for his own good.

He had always enjoyed snorkeling and rock-pool browsing, but having bought second-hand kit for £60, proceeded to learn to dive to further those marine biological interests in 1975, while unemployed. This was in Birmingham, which is about as far from the sea as one can get in the UK. A post-doc fellowship in Melbourne, Australia gave much easier access to a lot of better diving î º better, that is, than Dosthill (a quarry) in February. The Barrier Reef gave Brian his first distant sight of sharks. Later, a rather close encounter, on his back at arm's length under the belly of a four-metre female white shark (but still with time to determine the sex of the shark!), made him the envy of the Melbourne Uni Underwater Club.

A move to Hong Kong opened up the whole western Pacific, South China Sea and Java sea, but increasingly sites with tales of many sharks became sites of tales of next to nothing: sharks were disappearing. One or two special places, particularly Palau, were still good, but it was dawning that there was a problem. Gradually, he was drawn into efforts to conserve sharks by opposing finning and the soup, especially as founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society, a position he held for seven years. His club, the South China Diving Club, hosted an early blog of efforts to persuade the government, companies, and organizations to avoid shark products.

Brian says his fifteen minutes of fame came when he gate-crashed an Alibaba press conference (with some subtle assistance). At that time Alibaba, the largest B2B in China was serving as a platform for shark fin traders. Brian challenged Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, when he publicly promised to swear off shark-fin soup, him and his family. Some while later, trade in shark fins on Alibaba’s website was banned.

Brian’s involvement in the Hong Kong Disneyland shark-fin menu debacle perhaps got him more publicity worldwide than he could have imaged feasible, appearing even in small-town American newspapers. 

Anxious not to trade on these contributions, as he thinks himself only a minor player in this war on depredation, he might yet be persuaded to tell a story if it can raise money for the cause.

Item Special Note

Being auctioned is dinner or lunch with one the world’s foremost shark experts or celebrities. It is a unique opportunity to “talk shark” face-to-face, one-on-one, with a real authority on sharks. 

How it works:

1. Bid on a celebrity, shark scientist or conservationist that lives or works in your area, unless you are willing to drive or fly to meet them in their area.

2. The winning bidder pays for the lunch or dinner and may bring as many guests as he or she wishes.

3. We will introduce the winning bidder to the celebrity, scientist or conservationist. The two of you then set a mutually agreeable  date, time and place to meet within one year of the close of the auction.

All winning bids are charitable contributions deductible from US Federal 2013 income taxes. Funds raised by the auction will be used to support shark research and conservation programs.