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Opportunistic Acoustic Telemetry Platforms: An Update on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Collaborative Monitoring Program in the Gulf of Maine, 2005-2018
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2021
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[PDF-1.24 MB]
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Description:Researchers frequently study the ecology of marine animals by using acoustic telemetry to collect information on behavior, habitat use, and survival. Many studies use acoustic telemetry to monitor marine animals at a local level to answer specific questions (i.e., swim speeds or mortality bottlenecks). It can be difficult to collect data for migratory species that exhibit extensive movements covering broad spatial distributions outside “home arrays” for 2 reasons: the cost of offshore deployments (ship time and mooring costs) and awareness/accessibility of distant water detections. To address both issues, we work in research partnerships to both deploy receivers and share data. First, we utilize a number of opportunistic platforms: oceanographic buoys, commercial fishing gear, drifters, passive acoustic moorings, gliders, and coastal moorings to expand coverage while lowering costs. Then, after receivers are downloaded and we assure data quality, we actively contact tag owners to report detections and/or make these data available through the Ocean Tracking Network data portal. These platforms provide novel data and have generated over 369,000 detections from over 1,100 transmitters released by 50 researchers (34 organizations). These opportunistic platforms prove to be a low-cost method able to collect valuable data benefiting the science community. The information gained from these data helps researchers fill in data gaps, leads to novel findings on expanded species distributions, develops new research partnerships, and supports collaborative studies of migratory marine species behavior and survival.
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Rights Information:Public Domain
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Compliance:Submitted
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