Ocean Tracking Network

🌊 Mantas don’t recognize borders.

This year’s theme for World Manta Day is collaboration and manta rays offer a powerful example of why conservation can't happen in isolation.

Supported in part by a OTN equipment loan, researchers with Marine Megafauna Foundation used acoustic telemetry to track 48 reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) across Mozambique and South Africa, revealing just how connected these populations are.

The study found that around 30% of tagged manta rays moved between the two countries, including one-way movements of up to 950 km. While South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park appears to provide an important refuge, 90% of manta rays detected in Mozambique were found outside marine protected areas.

These movements highlight a challenge that goes beyond any one protected area: effective manta conservation requires collaboration across borders.

Acoustic telemetry helps researchers uncover these connections, providing the evidence needed to better understand where animals move, where protection is working, and where conservation efforts need to be strengthened. From researchers and monitoring networks to governments, communities and conservation organizations, collaboration is key to protecting these incredible ocean travellers.

📖 Read more: https://www.int-res.com/journals/esr/articles/esr01527



📸: 1, 2 & 4 - Ryan Daly | 3 (w/ figure) - Anna Flam

We’re thrilled to share that our scientific director, Robert Lennox, has been named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 honourees!

This award program celebrates outstanding young professionals from across the country who are making a meaningful impact through their work. At OTN, Rob's vision, expertise, and forward-thinking approach are helping to advance our goal of providing global scientific leadership in aquatic animal tracking. It’s wonderful to see those contributions recognized alongside some of Canada’s emerging talent!

In August, we welcomed students from Dalhousie University's MARI 3650 (Ocean Technology for the Observation and Conservation of Marine Species) to the Aquatron for an ROV workshop! 🤿🤖

Our telemetry operations team introduced the class to the different types of ROVs at OTN, the systems that support them, and how these vehicles enable aquatic research and discovery. Students got hands-on with the Falcon ROV, helping with deck checks before deploying it in the pool and then piloting on their own! They used the ROV's gripper to interact with objects in the pool, and explored the underwater environment with the onboard sonar.

It was a fantastic group who were eager to get involved and put our robots to the test. We love giving students opportunities to get out of the classroom and experience ocean tech in action!

🌊 We’re hiring! OTN is looking for a Glider Technician I to join our glider team.

This role supports the maintenance, troubleshooting and piloting of Wave and Slocum gliders, along with field operations, metadata entry, data analysis and deployment of other oceanographic equipment.

If you’re interested in working with autonomous ocean observing technology, we’d love to hear from you! For more information: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/were-hiring-glider-technician-i/

📅 Deadline to apply: Sept. 17, 2026

New publication alert! 📊🐟

Much of the work that makes global acoustic telemetry research possible happens behind the scenes and, now, there’s a publication to help tell that story.

Our data team has published a new paper in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences detailing how the OTN Data Centre supports reliable, transparent and internationally certified acoustic telemetry data through global collaboration.

We're especially excited about this one because it showcases the expertise and dedication of a team that is so often quietly working their magic in the background.

Read the full publication here: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjfas-2025-0341

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. ➡️

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

🌊 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.

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 ➡️

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. 🦈➡️