Scientist honoured for moving shipping lanes to protect whales

By NINA CHIARELLI
Telegraph-Journal
May 09/03

   A New Brunswick scientist has been recognized for hex work to move shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy to protect of endangered right whales.
   Dr. Moira Brown, a scientist who spends her summers in Grand Manan and her winters in Cape Cod at the Center for Coastal Studies, said she was pleased to hear her work on the vessel-whale working group had come to fruition.
   The travelling lanes used by ships in the Bay of Fundy will change this July to accommodate whales sharing the waters, she said. "It's been a long time coming," she said. "But I find the recognition embarrassing."
   Dr. Brown is nominated in the restoration and rehabilitation category of the 2003 Canadian Environment Awards. She is up against a Port Perry, Ont., avian restoration team, and a Scarborough, Ont., community conservation group.
   The awards are handed out by Canadian Georgraphic Enterprises and are inspired by Canada's Environment Week, which runs June 1-7. The awards are in their second year and celebrate Canadians doing their part to proudly defend this country's environment.
   Dr. Brown said the best part of being recognized was the light that will be shed onto the scientists, fishermen, shippers and professional mariners "from various different walks looking to see if we could afford the right whale a little more protection.
    " The working group used 14 years of data which compared the lane-ways most travelled in the Bay of Fundy by ships and by whales.
   She said the move expects to see a relative probability of reducing whale-ship collisions by about 80 per cent.
   "It's not a 100 per cent solution. But it's a good compromise," she said.
   The initiative is also "quite precedent setting," she said, in that it was done in conjunction with the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body that promotes cooperation among countries in regulating shipping practices.
   "The recognition for right whales through this will be important," Dr. Brown said.
   Right whales are an endangered species. It is believed only about 300 to 350 exist in the world. They migrate from the Bay of Fundy each year to warmer waters along the eastern seaboard.
   The award will be handed out June 2, in Toronto. Winners will be awarded $5,000 to donate to the environmental cause of their choice.

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