Derek Hamer

My love of the marine environment stems back to my earliest memories, growing up on the beaches of King Island in Bass Straight. My earliest encounters with marine mammals involved whale stranding events on King Island’s rugged west coast and encounters with fur seals at Reed Rocks.

I have worked on a variety of animal conservation and welfare projects in Australia and overseas, although my career in marine mammal science commenced about nine years ago, with an eleven month stint on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island studying haul-out behaviour and maternal investment in southern elephant seals. In recent years, I have managed a number of projects aimed at mitigating operational interactions and related by-catch mortality of common dolphins, Australian fur seals and Australian sea lions in four major commercial fisheries in Southern Australia. Some of this work has contributed to my PhD, which is nearing completion.

In my current role as Project Coordinator: marine mammal - Fishery Interactions, my task is to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders in the fishing, research and conservation community to investigate ways to mitigate catch depredation by toothed whales of pelagic longlines in the Australian and Indo-Pacific regions. If successful, our findings will have positive implications and broader applications for pelagic longline fisheries in other parts of the world.

 

Selected publications:

 

Journals

 

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., Goldsworthy, S.D., Shaughnessy, P.D., Clark, S.R. Assessing the effectiveness of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park in protecting the endangered Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) from by-catch mortality in shark gill-nets. In preparation.

 

Hamer, D.J., Izzo, C. Using telomere analysis to age pinnipeds: a technique for rapidly determining compliance under demographically based harvest systems used to manage exploited populations. Endangered Species Research, in review.

 

Izzo, C., Hamer, D.J. Use of telomere length to age Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea). Wildlife Research, in review.

 

Shaughnessy, P.D., Goldsworthy, S.D., Hamer, D.J., Peters, K., McIntosh, R.R. Status of Australian sea lions in South Australian waters. Wildlife Research, in review.

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., McGarvey, R., 2009. Objective reporting of scientific results is critical for maintaining relationships with industry and achieving conservation outcomes for fisheries. Animal Conservation 12, 292-293.

 

Baylis, A.M.M., Hamer, D.J., Nichols, P., 2008. Assessing the use of milk fatty acids to infer the diet of the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea). Wildlife Research 36, 169-176.

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., McGarvey, R., 2008. Measurement, management and mitigation of operational interactions between the South Australian Sardine Fishery and short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). Biological Conservation 141, 2865-2878.

 

Hamer, D.J., 2006. “Seal-friendly” nets are overrated. Conservation in Practice 7(3), 12-14.

 

Hamer, D.J., Goldsworthy, S.D., 2006. Seal-fishery operational interactions: identifying the environmental and operational aspects of a trawl fishery that contribute to by-catch mortality of Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus). Biological Conservation 130, 517-529.

 

 

Government reports

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., Goldsworthy, S.D., Shaughnessy, P.D., 2009. Effectiveness of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park in protecting the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) from by-catch mortality in shark gill-nets. Final report to the Great Australian Bight Marine park steering Committee. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2002/000227-1, SARDI Research Report Series no. 357. 59pp.

 

Hamer, D.J., Ivey A., Ward, T.M., 2009. Operational interactions between the South Australian Sardine Fishery with common dolphins: November 2004 to March 2009. Report to PIRSA Fisheries. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2007/000198-2, SARDI Research Report Series no. 354. 32pp.

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., 2008. Operational interactions between the South Australian Sardine Fishery and common dolphins in 2006/07: assessing the effectiveness of the industry code of practice. Report to PIRSA Fisheries. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2007/000198-1, SARDI Research Report Series no. 252. 30pp.

 

Hamer, D.J., Ward, T.M., Goldsworthy, S.D., McGarvey, R., Rogers, P.J., 2007. Measurement, management and mitigation of operational interactions between common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and the South Australian Sardine Fishery. Report to PIRSA Fisheries. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2006/000212, SARDI Research Report Series no. 174. 38pp.

 

Hamer, D.J., Page, B., Goldsworthy, S.D., 2007. The spatial distribution of foraging effort in Australian sea lion populations in close proximity to areas of high catch and effort in the SA rock lobster and Commonwealth shark gill-net fisheries. In: Goldsworthy, S.D., Peters, K.J., Page, B. (eds.). Foraging ecology and diet analysis of Australian sea lions. Final report to the Department of Environment and Water Resources, Australian Commonwealth Government. Report to DEWHA. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2007/001024-1, SARDI Research Report Series no. 251. pp. 19-34.

 

Goldsworthy, S.D., Shaughnessy, P.D., Page, B., Dennis, T.E., McIntosh, R.R., Hamer, D.J., Peters, K.J., Baylis, A.M.M., Bradshaw, C.J.A., 2007. Developing population monitoring protocols for Australian sea lions. Final report to DEWR. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2007/000554, SARDI Research Report Series no. 219. 65pp.

 

Goldsworthy, S.D., Hamer, D.J., Page, B., 2007. Assessment of the implications of interactions between fur seals and sea lions and the southern rock lobster and gillnet sector of the South and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) in South Australia. Final report to FRDC (project no. 2005/077). SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication no. F2007/000711-1, SARDI Research Report Series no. 225. 163pp.

 

Tilzey, R., Goldsworthy, S.D, Cawthorn, M., Calvert, N., Hamer, D.J., Russell., S., Shaughnessy, P.D., Wise, B., Stewardson, C., 2006. Assessment of seal-fishery interactions in the winter blue grenadier fishery off west Tasmania and the development of fishing practices and seal exclusion devices to mitigate seal by-actch by factory trawlers. Final report to FRDC. Project no. 2001/008. Bureau of Rural Sciences. 69pp.

 

Last updated: 12 January 2010