Full Name
MARTIN L. TAILLEFER
Job Title
Chief Oceanographer
Company/Organization
Canadian Forces Intelligence Command & Directorate of Meteorology and Oceanography
Speaker Bio
Martin (Marty) Taillefer was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated from the Royal Roads Military College in 1987 with a B.Sc. in Physics and Oceanography and began his 20-year career in the Royal Canadian Navy. He served aboard several Canadian and American Warships - specializing in Underwater Warfare. In 1991 he was the first ASW Director aboard HMCS Annapolis to deploy with the new CANTASS (towed array system). In 1995, he was selected for post-graduate studies at the University of Victoria earning a M.Sc. in Ocean Acoustics. In 1997, he was appointed as the Pacific Fleet Oceanographer - specializing in environmental analysis for Anti-Submarine Warfare.
In 2001, he retired from the RCN and began working at General Dynamics (GD) Canada as a Systems Engineer. He coordinated and supported the installation of sonar suite aboard the Swedish Navy Göteborg Corvette class vessel, at the Muskö Naval Base, a Swedish underground naval facility on the island of Muskö, south of Stockholm. In 2006, transferred to the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as a Senior Policy and Oceanographer Advisor. His portfolios were varied, mainly devoted to ocean modelling and space-based Remote Sensing. He was a member of the RADARSAT-II technical advisory board prior to the 2008 launch. He was also a member of the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) project management team for its scientific design concepts.
In 2010, he stood up a new oceanography and ocean acoustics company. By 2014, Maritime Way Scientific was recognized by the US Dept. of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) as a top acoustic company in North America. In the same year, Marty was invited by CTV News to comment on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that disappeared over the Indian Ocean. For a period of two months, he provided oceanography and ocean acoustics insight and expertise to the Canadian public on the difficulties of finding aircraft debris in a hostile and vast ocean environment. In 2015 he supported the US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a detection system to interdict Narco-Subs off the coast of Columbia and Central America. Finally, his work at Maritime Way culminated with the sale of a Tactical Decision Aid (TDA) in underwater acoustic to Lockheed Martin Canada in 2020.
In 2021, Marty re-joined DND as the Senior Data Analysts and Special Projects officer at the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges (CFMETR) and effective in October 2023, accepted a new appointment at the Directorate of Meteorology and Oceanography (CFINTCOM) as the Chief Oceanographer.
Finally, Martin has been actively involved with the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) since 2006, serving for three years as Chair of the Ottawa CMOS Centre and was National President in 2016-17.
In 2001, he retired from the RCN and began working at General Dynamics (GD) Canada as a Systems Engineer. He coordinated and supported the installation of sonar suite aboard the Swedish Navy Göteborg Corvette class vessel, at the Muskö Naval Base, a Swedish underground naval facility on the island of Muskö, south of Stockholm. In 2006, transferred to the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as a Senior Policy and Oceanographer Advisor. His portfolios were varied, mainly devoted to ocean modelling and space-based Remote Sensing. He was a member of the RADARSAT-II technical advisory board prior to the 2008 launch. He was also a member of the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) project management team for its scientific design concepts.
In 2010, he stood up a new oceanography and ocean acoustics company. By 2014, Maritime Way Scientific was recognized by the US Dept. of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) as a top acoustic company in North America. In the same year, Marty was invited by CTV News to comment on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that disappeared over the Indian Ocean. For a period of two months, he provided oceanography and ocean acoustics insight and expertise to the Canadian public on the difficulties of finding aircraft debris in a hostile and vast ocean environment. In 2015 he supported the US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a detection system to interdict Narco-Subs off the coast of Columbia and Central America. Finally, his work at Maritime Way culminated with the sale of a Tactical Decision Aid (TDA) in underwater acoustic to Lockheed Martin Canada in 2020.
In 2021, Marty re-joined DND as the Senior Data Analysts and Special Projects officer at the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges (CFMETR) and effective in October 2023, accepted a new appointment at the Directorate of Meteorology and Oceanography (CFINTCOM) as the Chief Oceanographer.
Finally, Martin has been actively involved with the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) since 2006, serving for three years as Chair of the Ottawa CMOS Centre and was National President in 2016-17.
