Please note: From May 26 through the end of June, the Aquarium will be making exciting updates to our lobby. Construction should not affect your visit. For guests with sensory needs, KultureCity Bags will now be available at the box office. Thank you for your understanding!
Our Experts
Heather Pettis
Senior Scientist and Chair
Kraus Marine Mammal Conservation Program, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean LifeEducation
MA, Biology, Boston University Marine Program, 2001
BSc, Biology (Hons), Bates College, 1997
About
Heather Pettis has been a research scientist at the New England Aquarium since 2000, focusing on the health and survival of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Her work combines long-term monitoring with innovative, noninvasive approaches to better understand how human activities impact individual right whale health and population recovery. Heather’s research includes visual health assessments of right whales, a technique she helped develop and refine to evaluate parameters of health at both the individual and population levels. This approach has become a key tool for tracking long-term trends in health for this endangered species and has been adapted for monitoring the health of other cetaceans. Heather’s research also focuses on assessing and monitoring anthropogenic injuries, particularly those caused by vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, and the impact these injuries have on the health of right whales. Her work has advanced an understanding of how repeated, sublethal injuries accumulate across an individual’s lifetime and shape individual and population trends in survival and reproduction. Additionally, her work has also demonstrated the extent to which human activities continue to limit recovery of the species. Heather serves as Executive Administrator of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, where she helps coordinate one of the most comprehensive long-term datasets on any whale species. Through this role, she facilitates collaboration and data sharing among researchers, managers, and conservation groups, helping ensure that decisions are informed by the best available science.
Affiliations
Featured Research
Visual health assessment of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) using photographs
By Heather M. Pettis, Rosalind M. Rolland, Philip K. Hamilton, Solange Brault, Amy R. Knowlton, and Scott D. Kraus
Published January 2004
Body condition changes arising from natural factors and fishing gear entanglements in North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis
By Heather M. Pettis, Rosalind M. Rolland, Philip K. Hamilton, Amy R. Knowlton, Elizabeth A. Burgess, Scott D. Kraus
Published March 14, 2017
Recent Publications
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Estimating the effects of stressors on the health, survival and reproduction of a critically endangered, long-lived species
Aquarium Affiliate Author(s): Philip Hamilton, Amy Knowlton, Heather Pettis
Published February 06, 2023 -
Fishing gear entanglement threatens recovery of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales
Aquarium Affiliate Author(s): Amy Knowlton, Philip Hamilton, Scott Kraus, PhD, Heather Pettis
Published June 14, 2022 -
Assessing North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) welfare
Aquarium Affiliate Author(s): Heather Pettis
Published December 17, 2021
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Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life
Through pioneering conservation research and strategic partnerships, our team of 40 scientists works to combat the unprecedented impacts on the ocean from climate change and other human activities.
