Dolphin Tagging Program

Don Hammond is a marine fisheries biologist living in Charleston, SC. He retired April 2006 from the Marine Resources Division of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources where he served for over 35 years in fisheries management and research. He helped establish one of the earliest state programs designed to assist the marine recreational fishing industry to develop in a conservation friendly manner. In 1988 he was chosen by Carroll A. Campbell, Governor of South Carolina, to develop and implement the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series. He served as the program’s executive director until 2000. He wrote the first official South Carolina policy regulating setting of state records for saltwater fish requiring meticulous documentation of fish for record status. In his role as fisheries biologist, he helped pioneer the development the recreational fishery for Atlantic spadefish based on the use of jellyballs as bait. As an avid and accomplished recreational fisherman, Don is active in regional and national sportfishing seminars and shows. His research efforts have focused on both inshore as well as oceanic gamefish utilizing some of the most modern technology available. The last five years he served as principle investigator of the Dolphin Tagging Research Program. He currently operates a private research company, Cooperative Science Services, LLC in Charleston, SC, where he is continuing his research on dolphin and cobia.