David McNiven Garner (26 November 1928 – 13 May 2016)[1] was a New Zealand research physicist, with a focus in physical oceanography and ocean circulation.

[3] In 1954 while employed by the Oceanographic Institute of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Garner was an hydrologist on the 1954 Chatham Islands expedition.

[citation needed] His voyages included a portion of the first ever circumnavigation of North and South America by the CSS Hudson in 1970, on which he was a watch keeper, not a scientist.

[5] Garner returned with his family to New Zealand in 1971, where he was a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Physics Department from approximately July 1971 to 1974.

During his tenure, he worked on the physical oceanographic aspects of an ecological impact report by the university for Shell BP Todd Maui in their offshore drilling operations.