Accelerating Electronic Tag Development for Tracking Free-Ranging Marine Animals at Sea

• Main Author: Block, Barbara A.
• Other Authors: LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIV CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Biological Oceanography; *MARINE BIOLOGY; *AQUATIC ANIMALS; *MAMMALS; OCEANS; TUNA; AQUATIC ORGANISMS; WILDLIFE; FISHES; SHARKS; ECOSYSTEMS; TRACKING; DEPLOYMENT; HABITATS; TOPP(TAGGING OF PACIFIC PELAGICS); BLUE SHARKS; MARINE MAMMALS; MARINE ORGANISMS; PELAGIC ORGANISMS; SALMON SHARKS; MAKO SHARKS; SPOT(SATELLITE POSITION ONLY TAGS); TEMPERATURE TRANSMITTING; WHITE SHARKS; Pacific; International Polar Year; IPY
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA483198; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA483198

This project developed, tested, and deployed archival and satellite tags for the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP). Our efforts centered both on improving existing technologies and on developing new tools. These new tools have provided TOPP the tools necessary to address fundamental questions in biological oceanography concerning the distribution and critical, habitats of pelagic organisms. We developed a GPS tag using Fastloc technology making it possible to study animal movements on a scale of 10-50 meters. The OPS tag design developed under this NOPP award is now commercially available from the Sea Mammal Research Unit, Wildlife Computers Inc. (Redmond WA) and Sirtrack Ltd New Zealand.We developed a CTD tag that is now commercially available from the Sea Mammal Research unit. This tags is accurate to +/- 5dBar, +/- 0.001 deg C, and + 0.003 mS/cm. These tags have made possible a series of international collaborations SEAOS and the IPY (International Polar Year) initiative MEOP (Marine Mammals as Explorers of the Ocean Pole to Pole).