Canada is poised to bolster its position as a global leader in the development of better fisheries management and the understanding of climate change, thanks to a $35 million investment awarded to Dalhousie University by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
This major award will provide infrastructure and operating funds for the creation of the $160 million Ocean Tracking Network (OTN).
Headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax, the OTN will unite the finest marine scientists in the world in the most comprehensive and revolutionary examination of marine life and ocean conditions ever undertaken. The project will consist of installing cutting-edge, made-in-Canada tracking technology at strategic locations in 14 ocean regions on all seven continents.
The OTN will allow researchers to record the movement and behaviour of fish and other marine life - from salmon, to turtles, to whales - as well as monitor ocean characteristics, such as water depth, temperatures, and chemistry. The project will also include an important social sciences component that will shed light on the international social and legal framework of oceans. OTN data will provide invaluable new insight into marine management practices, and will determine how life-sustaining ocean conditions are changing in response to climate change. Never before has collecting oceanic data on such a grand scale been contemplated.
