Brian McNamara

Marine Mammal Observer, Fisheries Observer
Marine Field Researcher

Brian’s career in marine conservation began in 1988 as a US Peace Corps Marine Fisheries Volunteer in the Philippines. There he helped organize artisinal fishermen’s organizations with the goal of reducing destructive fishing practices such as poison and dynamite fishing. He helped construct and deploy artificial reefs, fish attracting devices (FADS) and oyster culture alternative income projects.

In 1992, Brian began working for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Salmonid Smolt Fish Passage Project at Bonneville Hydro-Electric Dam on the Columbia River monitoring fish passage systems. He was responsible for safe trapping, anesthetizing, sampling, counting and safely releasing protected and endangered salmonid species. In 1994, he joined the NMFS California Swordfish/Thresher Shark Drift Gillnet Fisheries Observer Program. He documented marine mammal and sea turtle sightings and interactions with fishing gear, collected morphological data and performed necropsies on marine mammals and target fish species. He has assisted training new observers in these skills.

In 1996, he moved to the NMFS Hawaii Pelagic Swordfish and Tuna Longline Observer Program where he performed the duties above with the addition of sea turtle satellite tagging and monitoring albatross interactions and mortalities. Brian became convinced that albatross mortalities could be greatly reduced in this fishery. In 1998, he was hired to research, develop and test the effectiveness of seabird bycatch mitigation methods for the Hawaii Pelagic Longline Seabird Mortality Mitigation Project. As the project's sole field researcher he tested mitigation methods such as blue-dyed baits, various bird scaring lines, night setting, offal retention and strategic offal discarding during commercial fishing operations. Brian considers this his greatest contribution to marine conservation. He later served as a seabird mitigation consultant for the NMFS Sustainable Fisheries Program in Hawaii.

Brian then worked for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife for 5 years monitoring protected salmonid species populations on the Columbia River and its tributaries. He performed snorkel, stream habitat and spawning surveys along with adult and juvenile fish trapping, tagging and sampling. During this time he also worked seasonally as a fisheries observer and recently worked in the Gulf of Mexico on a NMFS Giant Blue Fin Tuna Study. Most recently, he has been working as a Lead Marine Mammal Observer on seismic vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. In over 1,000 sea days as an observer Brian has gained extensive marine mammal identification and dissection experience. He also holds a USCG 100 Ton Master License.  

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