Using tiny transmitters attached to sea creatures and receivers dotted along the ocean floor, Australian scientists will track the movements of marine life and also gather vital information on climate change effects such as rising ocean temperatures.
The acoustic tagging and monitoring system, to be managed by the Sydney Harbour Institute of Marine Science (SHIMS), will allow a variety of sea life living in Australian coastal and continental shelf ecosystems to be tracked for over 20 years by receivers placed in lines or ‘curtains’ that extend from shore out to sea along the ocean floor off NSW and off Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, along with smaller networks in other parts of Australia.
“Because much of our marine life – including protected and endangered creatures like the whale shark, the grey nurse shark and the great white shark – travel vast distances underwater each year, it is very difficult for scientists to collect data about fundamental aspects of their lives,” says the project’s Chief Scientist, Associate Professor Rob Harcourt.
The new tagging and monitoring system will also allow Australia to play an important role in the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), a global initiative that will comprehensively monitor ocean conditions and marine life responses in five oceans and around all seven continents.
“Many of our most pressing environmental concerns – from overfishing and changing migration patterns to rising ocean temperatures – are global in nature,” says Harcourt. “It’s therefore essential that scientists all round the world can receive our data via a central database, resulting in current and reliable international records on which our governments can make the best environmental decisions.”
