Alan Haig-Brown was born in Campbell River, British Columbia. In his teens, he worked as a deck-hand and was later taught to seine fish by his father-in-law Herb Assu of Quadra Island. As a young man, he worked on commercial fishing boats and coastal freighters. He seined salmon and herring until 1973, and then served for eleven years as coordinator of First Nations education in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. He also taught in the Chilcotin and Shuswap First Nations.

Haig-Brown photographs and writes about commercial boats and their crews, from tugs to fishing boats, in British Columbia and internationally. He has published several books, including the award-winning Fishing for a Living (1993) and The Fraser River (1996). He became editor of the West Coast Fisherman in 1986 and later founded The West Coast Mariner and The West Coast Logger. He continues to contribute to a number of commercial marine and commercial fishing magazines, such as Professional Mariner and Maritime Life and Traditions. He also writes a regular column for Cummins, a marine engine manufacturer.

Alan Haig-Brown is the son of writer and conservationist Roderick Haig-Brown, brother of Valerie Haig-Brown and father of filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown. He lives in New Westminster, British Columbia and Bangkok, Thailand.