About Ocean Tracking Network

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The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – International Joint Ventures Fund global research and technology platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Starting in 2008 and beginning full operations in 2010, OTN has been deploying Canadian state-of-the-art acoustic receivers and oceanographic monitoring equipment in key ocean locations around the world. These acoustic receiver lines are being used to document the movements and survival of marine animals carrying acoustic tags, and to document how both factors 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 200 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.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) supports OTN Canada, the seven-year (2010-2016) national network of researchers that work with the OTN infrastructure across Canada. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funds participation of social scientists in OTN work.

 

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