TIMELINE & STATS
OTN Phase I
Phase I of OTN began with establishing the first Canadian and international tracking arrays, launching the OTN Canada research network (focused on the themes of ocean modelling, living marine resources, trophic interactions, climate variability, and ocean governance), and developing the first international collaborations.
2007
- International Joint Venture Project award creating OTN is announced by CFI: it is the largest scientific research grant in Atlantic Canadian history, with $35M from CFI to support global monitoring infrastructure, governance and operations; $10M from NSERC to support research across Canada using OTN infrastructure; and $327K from SSHRC to support OTN social science and knowledge mobilization
First author connections among OTN senior scientists (click to see full image)
2008
- First OTN tracking array is established: acoustic receivers are deployed on the continental shelf off Halifax, and eventually create the longest acoustic tracking line in the world (completed in 2012)
- Inaugural meeting of OTN management and regional (Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic) research networks
- OTN’s data warehouse and system is launched
- OTN Glider Program begins with first mission in Frobisher Bay, Nunavut
2009
- Initial OTN Council and OTN SAC are formed
- First international tracking array is established in Perth, Australia, nested within the Australian IMOS Animal Tracking Facility. A second OTN line is added later in Tasmania, helping IMOS create a continental-scale acoustic system
2010
- Counting on Salmon Workshop is held at the Pacific Salmon Commission (U.S.–Canada), hosted by the Pacific Salmon Foundation, to review current adult salmon telemetry programs in the Fraser River system
- Canadian OTN research and training network program launched (Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic)
- First meeting of the OTN SAC
2011
- Collaboration agreement is enacted with South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity to begin deployments and development of a data system in South Africa. South Africa establishes the Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP), which grows to become a telemetry hub for Africa, and builds a regional data system on the OTN model (first external OTN node)
- First annual OTN Canada Symposium is held at OTN headquarters in Halifax. OTN Canada project leaders and students share preliminary research designs, discuss methods and network
- Cumberland Sound and Lancaster Sound Arctic receiver deployments occur, launching OTN Arctic programs
- OTN Cabot Strait Line, the second-longest receiver array in the world, is installed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Collaboration agreement is enacted with South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity to begin deployments and development of a data system in South Africa.
Photograph by unsplash
2012
- OTN begins coordination with and regular attendance at the annual Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System (GLATOS) meetings
- OTN hosts special session to showcase research accomplishments (“Integrating Oceanography and Animal Tracking – the Ocean Tracking Network”) at the 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, U.S.
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel tours Dalhousie University’s ocean-research initiatives, speaking with OTN Scientific Director and students
- ISAC is formed to complement the Canadian SAC, and the International Data Management Committee is established in order to implement a more robust and fully integrated governance and advisory system
- OTN absorbs and begins operation of three former Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project lines in order to support Pacific salmon research and address the recommendations of the Cohen Commission
2013
- OTN helps found the international “Gliderpalooza,” a grassroots, coordinated field demonstration of glider monitoring capacity (spanning Newfoundland to Georgia, U.S.)
- OTN, along with international stakeholders and other experts, participates in developing the EU-Canada-U.S. Galway Research Alliance for cooperation on Atlantic Ocean research
- OTN is a keynote speaker and panel member at the 1st European Research Area-Canada (ERA-Can) II Symposium on Arctic and Marine Research Infrastructure in
Rome, Italy - OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the 2nd Brazil–Canada Joint Workshop on Ocean Science and Technology in Victoria, British Columbia
- OTN co-hosts a special session (“Advances in Studying Spatial Distribution”) at the 2013 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Symposium in Reykjavik, Iceland
OTN is a keynote speaker and panel member at the 1st European Research Area-Canada (ERA-Can) II Symposium on Arctic and Marine Research Infrastructure in Rome, Italy
Photograph by unsplash
OTN Phase II
Phase II of OTN was defined by ever-increasing international collaborations and reach and by advanced integration of the scientific questions being addressed across the OTN Canada research network with that of international partners. Phase II also focused on the use of newly available technology and fostering increased capacity for training and outreach.
OTN is a founding participant of the Ocean Science Roundtable in Ottawa, Ontario
Photograph by unsplash
2014
- OTN Canada begins Phase II of its NSERC-funded, pan-Canadian research and training program after successful peer reviews of past performance and future plans
- OTN hosts a symposium (“The Ocean Tracking Network: Global Innovation in Technology, Science and Management”) at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Chicago, U.S.
- OTN is a founding participant of the Ocean Science Roundtable in Ottawa, Ontario, created to address oceans-science research priorities in Canada (Canadian Council of Academies Assessment)
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI) (“Research Infrastructures for Global Challenges”) in Athens, Greece
- OTN establishes joint collaboration with Brazil to help develop and launch OTN-Brazil; helps host first aquatic tracking workshop in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- OTN hosts special session (“From Science to Governance: Ocean Tracking Research for the Betterment of Canadian Marine Ecosystems and Resource Management”) at the Coastal Zone Canada Conference in Halifax
- OTN holds parliamentary reception in Ottawa as part of the 2014 OTN Symposium
- OTN hosts special session (“Big Problems, Big Networks, Big Data”) at the Canadian Science Policy Conference in Halifax
- The inaugural meeting to found Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG) is held. OTN supports iTAG with equipment and access to its data experts. By 2015, iTAG has deployed 1,062 receivers and tagged 2,200 aquatic animals
Photograph courtesy of dalhousie university
2015
- OTN becomes the first Canadian Associated Data Unit of the UNESCO-IOC International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange
- OTN co-hosts special session (“Establishing OTN-Brazil”) at the Brazilian Ichthyology Conference in Recife, Brazil; subsequently co-hosts a workshop with VEMCO on OTN tracking technology in Tamandaré, Brazil
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at a session on “Coordination of Ocean Science in Canada” at the 2015 Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Conference in Whistler, British Columbia
- OTN’s ISAC (with select trainees) publishes an invited review in Science, “Aquatic Animal Telemetry: A Panoramic Window into the Underwater World,” and participates in several associated podcasts and media releases
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the forum on “Frontiers of Research on Marine Biological Science,” held by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science in Washington, DC.
- ideasOTN, a committee of OTN research students, is formed; it continues to generate synthesis papers and outreach initiatives
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the 2nd ERA-Can+ International Symposium on Arctic and Marine Infrastructure in Halifax
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the ERA-Can+ Roundtable on Marine Information and Communication Technology
in Lisbon, Portugal - OTN becomes a founding member of AtlantOS as part of EU’s Horizon 2020 program, with a primary focus on working with European partners to create the European Animal Telemetry Network (EATN)
- OTN hosts 3rd International Conference on Fish Telemetry in Halifax
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member at the working session on “Horizon 2020/Marine and Atlantic Action Plan: Ocean Cooperation with Canada related to Ocean Observatory Science and Technologies,” in Barcelona, Spain
2016
- OTN becomes a founding member in the development of a Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System
- Canadian Minister of Science, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, visits Dalhousie to tour ocean science initiatives with a separate meeting on OTN’s Canadian and global operations (page 11)
- OTN receives Conservation Achievement Award from the International Fisheries Section of the American Fisheries Society
- OTN receives the Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa
- OTN is an invited speaker and panel member in the session on “Expanding Partnerships across Disciplines, Sectors and World Regions” at the 3rd ICRI in Cape Town, South Africa
- OTN funding is renewed, primarily through CFI and Research Nova Scotia Trust (RNST), with additional Canadian and international partnership support, and OTN becomes one of only 17 national research facilities in Canada to receive Major Science Initiative (MSI) funding, which funds OTN from 2017 to 2022 for continued operations and maintenance
- OTN provides input to the Naylor Commission, Canada’s Fundamental Science Review, that will structure future science network funding
- OTN/Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response (MEOPAR) gliders incorporate passive acoustic monitors to identify baleen whales and begin exploratory missions to search for right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
OTN receives the Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa
Photograph courtesy of Canadian Museum of Nature
2017
- OTN leads a coordinated monitoring mission between DFO, the University of Victoria, and Dalhousie University, using three autonomous marine gliders off the coast of British Columbia to map grey whale habitat
- OTN becomes a founding member and consultant on developing the Oceans Research in Canada Alliance (ORCA)
- First deployments of OTN equipment in Brazil are completed; OTN co-hosts workshop “Launching of the Data Portal and Structuring the Brazilian Ocean Tracking Network,” which establishes the OTN-Brazil Telemetry Data Node, in Tamandaré, Brazil
- OTN expands its glider fleet under a partnered project (Memorial University and Dalhousie: Development of Autonomous Marine Observation Systems), with new funding from CFI and RNST; adds two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and an aerial drone to its toolbox
- OTN’s ISAC (with select trainees) publishes comprehensive review in BioScience, entitled “Envisioning the Future of Aquatic Animal Tracking: Technology, Science and Application”
- OTN and Big Spruce Brewing of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, collaborate to produce the IPA-style beer Tag! You’re It!; a portion of the sales helps support oceans conservation and research. The campaign raises OTN’s public profile and generates more than $11K for organizations in Atlantic Canada
- OTN becomes a member of the EU Horizon 2020 SponGES consortium
- OTN is named to the steering committee of the World Conference of Marine Biodiversity, which will convene in Montreal, Quebec in 2018
- An OTN data node, developed in collaboration with and for the Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry (FACT) array over the past three years, comes online in the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) node of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).
OTN and Big Spruce Brewing of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, collaborate to produce the IPA-style beer Tag! You’re It!
Photograph courtesy of Dalhousie University
Stats
OTN has made tremendous progress in the areas of international partnerships, global receiver coverage, data collected and species tracked.
Ocean Tracking Network
General inquiries:
+1 (902) 494-4101
Found equipment
+1 (902) 494-2357
Media inquiries
+1 (902) 494-4405