Unique Technology

OTN will provide leading-edge "made-in-Canada" technology developed specifically to observe the state of the world's oceans. The network will establish "listening curtains" which will track the movement and behaviour of diverse marine species – salmon to turtles to whales – in 14 ocean regions covering the entire planet.

AMIRIX (Vemco), Lotek and Satlantic Inc are OTN's main private sector partners. Together, they will develop long-lasting tags with codes unique to the OTN, thereby avoiding any coding confusion, keeping the data pure and reliable. The tags range in size from an almond to an AA battery and can be surgically implanted or fastened to a fin. The ease of this application means that tagged fish just need to swim over the receiver and the data is recorded, similar to the way we pay for food at a supermarket checkout using a UPS scanner.

This information-gathering method is much more cost-effective and reliable than the traditional means of sending people to sea in ships. With OTN, the tagged animals are reporting on their own travel activities.

The network will enable the world's best minds in marine science and management to collaborate among research institutions located in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Bermuda, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere.

This will result in the most comprehensive data to inform marine management practices ever available and will determine how life-sustaining ocean properties are changing in response to climate change in a way never before possible.