Famous Scientist Moira Brown

Moira Brown

Dr. Moira Brown is a Canadian-born North Atlantic right whale researcher and senior scientist instrumental in spearheading the initiative to get the Government of Canada, shipping industry and scientists to address ship strikes and North Atlantic right whale mortality in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. After a five-year effort, the year 2003 marked the first time in the history of the International Maritime Organization that shipping lanes were amended to avoid an endangered marine species.

About 25 years ago, before her quest to save the North Atlantic right whale began, Moira Brown taught Physical Education Class in schools across the West Island District of Montreal. After four years of teaching, Moira decided to return to McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, to study renewable resources, which resulted in her acquiring a Bachelor of Science Degree.


In 1985, after working as a research assistant for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on a project about the history of whaling, Moira started to work as a volunteer at the New England Aquarium, studying North Atlantic right whales in the Bay of Fundy, Canada.


After working with and studying these whales for ten years, Moira made the decision to return to university yet again: This time, she was in pursuit of a Doctorate Degree from the University of Guelph in Ontario.


Moira Brown has been researching right whale population biology and demographic studies in Canadian waters since 1985 and in Cape Cod Bay since 1997. Her studies on right whale genetics commenced in 1988. She focuses her marine conservation efforts on diminishing the human-related threats to the right whale population in Canadian waters. As a result, she, along with many other researchers under the direction of Dr. Scott Kraus (Vice President for Research at the New England Aquarium), has contributed to one of the most comprehensive databases of individual whales: The Photo Identification Catalogue which was originally created by Dr. Kraus in 1980 and now considered to be the best profile of any endangered species yet.


Moira Brown worked at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, for three years and then became Director at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for seven years dedicating her time to the conservation of marine mammals and their ecosystem.


She is Co-Chair of the North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery-Implementation Team, is currently the senior scientist at the Canadian Whale Institute and has been the senior scientist at the New England Aquarium's Edgerton Research Laboratory in Boston, Massachusetts, since 2004.