By Coral Reef Research Foundation
“From the shadows at the shore, I drift slowly underwater toward the center of the salt lake, passing through a living wall of golden jellyfish.”☨
Dr. William (“Bill”) M. Hamner, a world renowned marine scientist with a long history of research work in Palau, passed away on June 6th, 2024 at his home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Dr. Hamner, along with his research companion and wife Peggy, brought Palau to the attention of the world through their work in Koror State’s Jellyfish Lake and the Rock Islands, featured in National Geographic Magazine and the IMAX film “The Living Sea.” Behind those consequential activities, Bill and Peggy first came to Palau in 1976, Bill taking the position of Acting Director of the “Micronesian Mariculture Demonstration Center” (MMDC). He continued to do research in Palau over the decades, and later contributed significantly to the development of the Coral Reef Research Foundation (CRRF) on Malakal.
Bill obtained his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1961 and his Ph.D from UCLA in 1965. He started his scientific endeavors studying birds, but had to switch to marine ecology when he became allergic to bird feathers. Bill has been described as “the marine biologist who dove right in”, in reference to his insistence that biologists needed to go into the sea, either using scuba or submersibles, to see the creatures they studied for themselves. In 1971 Bill and Peggy spent a year at Bimini in the Bahamas diving daily in the deep water Gulfstream just offshore, suspended beneath a boat drifting with the currents observing transparent creatures in an ocean world where there was no bottom. A 1974 article in National Geographic, titled “Ghosts of the Gulf Stream: Blue-water Plankton”, brought these creatures to the world’s attention and gave rise to a new type of marine biological study known as “blue-water diving”, the precursor to the currently popular black-water sport diving. This resulted in a major reevaluation of marine creatures in the open ocean in the 50 years since.
In 1976, Bill, along with his family, moved to Palau where Chief Conservationist (TTPI), Robert Owen first suggested they explore Jellyfish Lake (Ongeim’l Tketau). In Palau he and Peggy also developed a close relationship with Francis Toribiong, the diving pioneer who started Fish n’ Fins dive shop, who first took them to the lake. As a natural progression of his interest in gelatinous marine animals, such as jellyfish, he pioneered the research in Palau’s unique marine lakes. With field assistance from Winkler Maech and Joshua Blesam, they began to survey the numbers, shapes and sizes of lakes and the species that inhabited them. During this period, they also made the first measurements of the impressive abundances and migrations of the Golden jellyfish, Mastigias, inhabiting three of the marine lakes and studied the relationship between the Mastigias jellies and their photosymbiotic zooxanthellae. This lead to the publication of the first scientific studies of Jellyfish Lake and the 1982 National Geographic article, “Strange World of Palau’s Salt Lakes,” which brought Jellyfish Lake to the world’s attention.
Dr Hamner later took a position with UCLA, where he remained for 25 years, but retained many ties to Palau and mentored several PhD students who worked there. Beyond the work on Jellyfish Lake and other marine life, both Bill and Peggy, plus Francis Toribiong and Dr. Laura Martin, were the stars of the 1995 IMAX documentary “The Living Sea,” which was nominated for the Academy Award for best short documentary in that year. The film focused closely on Jellyfish Lake providing world-wide attention to the lake and its remarkable fauna, boosting Palau tourism to new levels through the exposure to a world audience to the remarkable marine environments of Palau. When the Coral Reef Research Foundation (CRRF) was formed, Bill was a major collaborator and advisor, and helped develop a number of the research programs, including the definitive monitoring program of Jellyfish Lake, as well as physical oceanography of the Palau lagoon and its relationships to the outside ocean.
After his 2005 retirement from UCLA, Bill continued publishing in scientific journals and had a book in progress. He was active in collaborative programs with colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, again focused on gelatinous plankton in the deep sea. His scientific scope was broad, including research from many years of working in Antarctica on krill, whales and penguins, developing the systems that today allow public aquaria throughout the world to maintain and display jellyfish, as well global studies on jellyfish blooms worldwide as components of marine ecosystems. Bill’s interest and research topics included work on marine plankton, aggregations of marine animals and the first study of the dynamics and effects of the Malakal Harbor sewage outfall. The Hamners made numerous visits to work at CRRF since its inception.
After Bill retired from UCLA, as Professor Emeritus he and Peggy moved to Alabama, and both taught extension courses at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, as well as the Dauphin Island Marine Lab on the Gulf of Mexico. The pair was awarded the 2010 Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences NOGI award for sports/education; the award is considered the diving world’s equivalent of the “Oscars.” Bill’s understanding that “to study the natural history of any animal in its own environment, one must observe it undisturbed over time” was his mantra and something he endeavored to do his entire career.
Bill had many friends and associates in Palau, having helped encourage the first efforts towards marine conservation here, and was always available to share his broad knowledge of Palau’s marine life. (☨Hamner, W.M. 1982. Strange World of Palau’s Salt Lakes. Nat. Geo. 161(2):264-282.)