Ocean Tracking Network

08/08/2025

📣 We’re hiring a Senior Manager, Finance!

They'll oversee OTN’s operating budget, provide expert advice to the leadership team, develop and implement financial policies, procedures, and controls, and prepare financial reports.

Apply by August 21 to help support global aquatic research: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/were-hiring-senior-manager-finance/

07/30/2025

A meeting of scientists! 🧠🌊

Earlier this week, OTN joined Dalhousie University Faculty of Science at the Halifax Central Library for the “Meet a Scientist” event. Aaron (telemetry operations manager) and Shannon (data operations manager) hosted our table, sharing how we track aquatic animals and manage ocean data around the world.

We loved connecting with curious young minds and chatting with current students and alumni about all things ocean science. Big thanks to everyone who stopped by!

07/24/2025

🦈 Shark Week Deep Dive: White Sharks in Real Time 🦈

How do researchers know that white shark numbers are increasing in Atlantic Canada? Acoustic tracking is offering critical insights and a new tool is helping provide even more information about these ocean predators.

Over the past three years, a satellite- and cell-linked Live Buoy has been used off Nova Scotia to monitor for white sharks and other species in real time. This year, the buoy has been deployed off the outer islands of Mahone Bay near the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station, led by long-time OTN collaborator Dr. Nigel Hussey.

Equipped with an acoustic receiver, the buoy transmits detections of tagged animals as they swim nearby, giving scientists more immediate access to data on their movements, behaviour, and timing. As Live Buoys are adopted around the world, they’re transforming how we monitor shark populations, promote public safety, and engage the public in marine science.

While Live Buoys are powerful tools, they only detect tagged animals, so shark awareness and safe practices in the ocean are still key!

📸: Tancook Islands Marine Field Station

07/22/2025

🦈 Shark Week Deep Dive: The Secret Life of Nova Scotia's Blue Sharks 🦈

For over a decade, OTN and partners have been tagging and tracking blue sharks off Nova Scotia and the discoveries have been nothing short of fascinating.

It all started with Blue Shark Charters, run at the time by Art Gaetan, who noticed something unusual: the sharks appearing in local waters were mostly immature females.

That observation sparked a collaboration with researchers at Dalhousie University and OTN, leading to the launch of a hands-on shark tagging field course—a unique program that combines student training with long-term research.

This work also evolved into the OTN Nova Scotia Blue Shark Tracking Project, now co-led by Dr. Manuel Dureuil, Shark and Ray Research Scientist at the Future of Marine Ecosystems Lab, co-founder of the Shark and Ray Conservation Centre, and co-instructor of the Dalhousie shark class.

Researchers believe Nova Scotia’s inshore waters may serve as a seasonal refuge, where juvenile females can avoid mating males until they’re ready to join the offshore migration route. Thanks to long-term monitoring, we now know these sharks typically arrive in June and are staying longer each year, with some remaining as late as December.

Blue sharks are likely the most abundant large shark in the ocean, usually producing 30 pups per year. But abundance doesn’t equal resilience, and this species is the most heavily fished pelagic shark on this planet, facing population declines across their range. These top predators are powerful bioindicators of ocean health, as their presence (or absence) may offer clues about the changing marine environment.

This ongoing research is providing insight into how blue sharks, and ocean ecosystems, are adapting to the shifting climate, and offers the unique opportunity for long-term monitoring to detect population changes.

📹: Nick Hawkins Photography

07/20/2025

It’s the most fintastic time of the year… Shark Week is here! 🦈🎉

Since 2008, OTN has been teaming up with researchers across the globe to unlock the mysteries of shark behaviour, movements, and population health. So far, we’ve supported 495 projects, tracking over 50 species across 24 countries! These incredible creatures are vital to healthy ocean ecosystems, but sadly, many species are at risk due to human activity.

This week, we’re diving deep into the world of sharks and the research that’s helping to protect them. Stay tuned, and happy Shark Week! 💙

07/16/2025

What ancient species has outlived both the dodo bird and woolly mammoth? Atlantic whitefish!

Ava Sergio—a master’s student at Dalhousie University—is currently investigating this critically endangered freshwater fish, which has lived in Nova Scotia since before the last Ice Age. In this interview, we discuss her research into the species’ behaviour, potential spawning sites, and interactions with invasive predators.

Learn more: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/project/ava-sergio/

07/10/2025

Difficult conditions call for creative solutions 🤔

Designing an acoustic mooring involves juggling many factors — depth, currents, tides, maintenance time and more. The Bay of Fundy perfectly illustrates the challenges of dynamic marine environments. With tides that rise and fall over 20 metres and currents hitting speeds of around 17 km/h, a regular mooring just wouldn’t hold up.

That’s why we rely on specialized floats, reinforced connection points, and exceptionally heavy anchors to keep everything secure. OTN's telemetry operations team regularly checks on how these moorings perform and makes improvements when needed.

Working underwater is never easy, but we’re fortunate to be part of a dedicated community constantly innovating to find the best solutions. Want to dive deeper into mooring design? Check out the best practices guide we developed with the Integrated Marine Observing System - IMOS: https://repository.oceanbestpractices.org/handle/11329/2611

06/24/2025

As we count down to International Angel Shark Day , we’re shining a light on one of the ocean’s most elusive predators. Don’t let the name fool you: these bottom-dwelling ninjas are masters of stealth, expertly burying themselves in sand to ambush unsuspecting prey.

Thanks to acoustic tracking technology, some of their secrets are being revealed.

In the Canary Islands, researchers with Angel Shark Project are using acoustic tags and strategically placed receivers loaned by OTN to track angel shark movements. This helps them identify critical habitats, understand seasonal and movement patterns, and determine how best to protect them.

This information is key to shaping conservation strategies, including a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Lobos Corridor, the inter-island passage between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, that would safeguard not only angel sharks, but a host of other marine life as well.

Check out the infographics to see how acoustic tracking works and how these “angels” are helping lead efforts to protect the waters they call home. 😇🦈

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!Ya queda menos para el día Internacional del Angelote ! destacamos a uno de los depredadores más escurridizos del océano. No te dejes engañar por su nombre: estos ninjas son maestros del sigilo, enterrándose en el fondo marino emboscan a sus presas desprevenidas.

Gracias a la tecnología de marcaje acústico, algunos de sus secretos están saliendo a la luz.

En las Islas Canarias, investigadores del Angel Shark Project están utilizando marcas acústicas y receptores estratégicamente colocados, facilitados por OTN, para rastrear los movimientos de los angelotes. Esto les ayuda a identificar hábitats críticos para la especie, además de comprender los patrones estacionales y de movimiento. Para poder determinar la mejor manera de protegerlos.

Esta información es clave para diseñar estrategias de conservación, incluyendo una propuesta de Área Marina Protegida (AMP) en un corredor interinsular que salvaguardaría no solo a los angelotes, sino también a muchas otras especies marinas.

Desliza por la infografía para ver cómo funciona el rastreo acústico y cómo los angelotes están liderando los esfuerzos para proteger las aguas que llaman hogar.

06/21/2025

06/20/2025

Raise a glass to conservation this summer 🍻🌊

Tag! You’re It, a hazy IPA brewed in collaboration with Big Spruce Brewing and OTN, supports marine and freshwater conservation, with 50 cents from every can helping protect the aquatic ecosystems and species we all love.

With sunny days and social gatherings on the horizon, there’s an easy way to make a positive impact while enjoying time with friends and family.

Cheers to good times and a healthier planet!

06/12/2025

THAT'S A WRAP! ✅

Research in Québec’s remote Chic-Choc Mountains is officially complete. This collaborative project combined Indigenous and western scientific knowledge systems to better understand alpine aquatic ecosystems.

Over the last 3 years, OTN provided a loan of 25 acoustic receivers and tagging support to track brook trout in Lac Thibault. Led by the Canadian Mountain Network (now Braiding Knowledges Canada), this work is part of a broader movement to braid ways of knowing together within environmental research.

We love collaborating on projects like this! You can read more about this project and others like it in our 2024 annual report: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/annual-report-2024/

📸: Louise Chavarie

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

06/08/2025

🎤 Mic drop… into the ocean.

This , we’re letting the ocean speak and listening closely to the giants of the deep.

OTN is collaborating with Transport Canada on ocean glider missions to help reduce ship strikes with endangered whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These gliders are primarily deployed to detect North Atlantic right whales, triggering a 10-knot speed limit in shipping lanes when the whales are present. To detect if whales are in the an area, Slocum gliders are equipped with hydrophones to listen for whale calls. Hydrophones are essentially underwater microphones, but look different than the ones you'd find on land. They're the little amber coloured 'bulbs' located on top of the gliders.

These hydrophones are capturing the calls of other whales too, including the elusive and endangered blue whale. The blue whale’s low-frequency vocalizations aren’t always easily or automatically detected by current software. To change that, OTN collaborator Katherine Indeck, with colleagues at the University of New Brunswick, are advancing near real-time whale call classification by implementing a new blue whale call library developed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The team is also applying newly updated regional detection protocols for blue and sei whales to improve species validation efforts.

This World Oceans Day mic drop reminds us that when we truly listen to the ocean, we’re better equipped to protect it.

📊 Figure from: Indeck et al. (2025). Glider surveillance for right whale detection. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025e111