Ocean Tracking Network

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Ocean Tracking Network

OTN deployments occur in all of the world’s five oceans and span seven continents.

The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a global aquatic research, data management and partnership platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Ocean Tracking Network is a global aquatic research, technology development, and partnership platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Beginning full operations in 2010, OTN is docume

nting the movements and survival of marine animals carrying electronic tracking tags, and how animals are influenced by oceanographic conditions. OTN is tracking many keystone, commercially important, and endangered species, including marine mammals, sea turtles, squid, and fishes including sharks, sturgeon, eels, tuna, salmonids, and cod. Over 400 international researchers from 18 countries are currently participating in the global network along with many more trainees, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows—in Canada alone, OTN has directly supported more than 130 students and trainees. OTN hosts a data warehouse—more than 100-million animal tracking records and growing—that serves as a repository for data collected by OTN researchers, and is developing interpretation and visualization tools for analysis of tracking data. OTN also operates a fleet of autonomous marine gliders in support of oceanographic and tracking research

08/18/2026

Ever wonder what happens before an ocean glider disappears over the horizon? It all starts here. 😎

Inside the COVEsolutions workshop, OTN’s glider team prepares, services and troubleshoots the autonomous vehicles that help collect critical ocean data across the Atlantic.

From Marine Slocum gliders gathering oceanographic observations and recording underwater sounds to Liquid Robotics Wave Gliders collecting meteorological, oceanographic and animal movement data, these platforms are our eyes and ears in the ocean.

Here's behind-the-scenes look at the people and places that make ocean observing possible. ➡️

08/06/2026

How are offshore wind farms changing marine ecosystems? 🌬️

We spoke with Lydie Couturier of France Energies Marines about how acoustic telemetry is helping researchers understand how marine species interact with offshore wind farms.

Lydie’s team is monitoring seven offshore wind farms around France, using more than 80 acoustic receivers and has tagged over 350 aquatic animals, from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. Early findings show that species like small-spotted catshark and European lobster regularly use and return to offshore wind farm areas, raising important questions about the role these new structures may play in marine ecosystems.

OTN is proud to support this research by providing acoustic telemetry equipment for a first-of-its-kind study at a floating offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean. Read more about Lydie's work in her research profile: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/project/lydie-couturier/

📸: France Energies Marines

+ European Tracking Network

08/01/2026

🌊 Happy MPA Day! 🌊

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are essential tools for ocean conservation, but their success depends on understanding how species use these spaces over time.

Acoustic telemetry is helping researchers monitor marine animals, track their movements, and evaluate whether MPAs are supporting conservation goals. By revealing migration routes, critical habitats, and connections between protected areas, acoustic telemetry provides valuable insights that inform conservation and management decisions.

OTN collaborators are using acoustic telemetry around the world to advance MPA science. For example:

🦈 In South Africa’s De Hoop MPA, tracking revealed that juvenile smooth hammerhead sharks concentrated in unprotected waters along the MPA boundary, highlighting opportunities to improve protection for this threatened species (Albano et al., 2023).

🐟 In the Bahamas, bonefish tracking showed connections between home ranges and important spawning sites, providing evidence that West Side National Park helps protect key life stages (Adams et al., 2021).

🦈 Across the Eastern Tropical Pacific, telemetry has revealed that sharks move between protected areas and open ocean habitats, helping inform marine reserve design and connectivity across national borders (Klimley et al., 2022).

By following animals beneath the waves, acoustic telemetry helps ensure MPAs are designed and managed with the best available science, supporting healthier oceans for the future.

07/31/2026

Researchers track sharks to understand where they move across days, seasons, and even lifetimes. This work identifies critical habitats, reveals migration patterns, monitors offshore wind farm effects, and evaluates overlap with MPAs and fisheries—all essential for helping protect shark populations. 🦈

So… how do you tag a shark? 🤔

📍 Internal acoustic tags
Small acoustic transmitters are implanted through a tiny incision in the shark’s abdomen. The procedure takes only a few minutes, and seawater is pumped over the gills to maintain oxygen levels. The shark is then monitored and released.

📍 External tags
Researchers attach a range of external tags including acoustic, satellite, ID or archival tags either beside the dorsal fin or on the shark’s back. Sharks usually stay in the water during tagging and scientists use a pole from the boat, or trained free divers/scuba divers can even tag sharks while underwater. 🤿

Every tagging project follows strict animal‑care protocols and must be approved through ethics boards and permitting agencies. This ensures each procedure is safe, humane, and scientifically justified. 📋

Swipe through to see some of the different shark species and tagging methods used ➡️

07/29/2026

OTN supports shark tracking research around the world, helping scientists uncover where sharks travel and which habitats matter most. Through acoustic telemetry enabled by OTN’s equipment loaner program, researchers are revealing movement patterns that would otherwise remain hidden beneath the surface.

From unexpected migrations to understanding how sharks respond to changing ocean conditions, these insights are helping inform shark conservation and management efforts worldwide.

In no particular order, here are just a few discoveries. 🦈➡️

07/27/2026

QUIZ TIME! Since 2008, the Ocean Tracking Network has been working with researchers around the world to advance our understanding of shark behaviour, movements, and population health. So far, we’ve supported 500+ research projects tracking 50+ shark species across 20+ countries! 🌍

Sharks play a vital role in ocean ecosystems and, just like us, they have unique traits, behaviours, and personalities.

Scroll through to take the quiz, track the letters from your answers, and find out which shark best matches you! 🦈

07/24/2026

📢 New publication alert!

Animal movement data are transforming how we understand species, ecosystems, and conservation, but they have yet to reach their full potential in tracking global biodiversity change.

A new Perspective article calls for greater integration of movement data into biodiversity indicators, highlighting how these insights can improve our ability to detect change, understand its drivers, and guide conservation action.

We’re proud to see our Director of Data Operations, Jon Pye, contribute as a co-author on this work, representing the marine movement data community alongside colleagues from the Smithsonian Institution in the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry Network (ACT).

Read the paper: https://rdcu.be/foMed

07/22/2026

What happens when an acoustic mooring breaks? 😱🌊

Even with careful planning and robust designs, ocean equipment can sometimes break free. When it does, an acoustic receiver might wash up on a nearby shore—or begin an unexpected journey across the ocean.

Last year, we were contacted about an OTN VR4 receiver that had washed ashore in Norway, nearly 5,000 km from where it was originally deployed! 🛰️🌍 What followed was a true ocean adventure, involving a global network of researchers, partners, and ocean enthusiasts who helped bring the receiver home.

Read the full story of its journey—and how we tracked it down—in our latest OTN blog: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/across-the-atlantic-and-back-the-journey-of-a-vr4/

07/15/2026

We’re listening to the ocean and it’s alive with sound 🌊🐋

Our glider team recently supported a mission with JASCO Applied Sciences Ltd. deploying a Teledyne Marine Slocum glider off the Scotian Shelf equipped to record the ocean’s soundscape.

The glider detected fin, sei, humpback, and pilot whales, and dolphins. The spectrogram graphic reveals a textbook fin whale song. This kind of data helps build a baseline of underwater sound, offering new insight into marine life below the surface.

📸: Nicolas Winkler Photography

07/09/2026

While Canada's oceans may not have the bright and fun reputation of waters further south, that doesn’t mean ours are any less vibrant or full of life. Sometimes, the cold, dark surface of the North Atlantic can make us forget just how incredible the world beneath the waves truly is. 🌊

Lloyd Bond, an avid diver, photographer, and friend of OTN, regularly shares incredible photos from his adventures around Nova Scotia. You may even recognize one of his images from the cover of our 2025 annual report. 😉

Let's take a moment to celebrate some of Lloyd’s stunning underwater photography and the story it tells: our cold North Atlantic waters are beautiful, dynamic, and teeming with life.

We feel incredibly lucky to have this ocean as our backyard. 💙

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