Ocean Tracking Network

‼️ Closing soon! Submit your abstracts by June 15! https://event.fourwaves.com/otnsymposium2026/submission

📣 Call for abstracts!

Abstract submissions are now open for the 2026 OTN Symposium, taking place November 9–12, 2026 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.We invite submissions for posters, speed talks, oral presentations, panels, and/or workshops.

Submit your abstract by June 15: https://event.fourwaves.com/otnsymposium2026/submission

🗓️ JUNE STUDY HALL SCHEDULE!

Tune into OTN’s study hall on Thursdays to explore data analysis tools, methods and solutions with the OTN data team and peers from around the globe!

Learn more: https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/study-hall/

Science stretching across the Atlantic! 🌊

Last month, Iago Gradin from our telemetry ops team travelled to Brazil to attend the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) forum. AAORIA is an ocean science diplomacy initiative connecting countries on both sides of the Atlantic to advance science that supports ocean policy, governance, and management at local, regional, and international scales.

Iago shared a presentation on OTN and our equipment loaner program, and also joined a panel discussion on ocean technology insights. The forum brought together an enthusiastic group focused on building connections and sharing ocean science across the Atlantic.

It’s World Fish Migration Day! 🐟

With this year’s theme, "We are river people," we want to give a shoutout to the Riverine Acoustic Fish Telemetry (RAFT) network!

RAFT’s projects have been tracking how key species, including invasive carp and lake sturgeon, move through the Mississippi River Basin. Last year, RAFT officially became an OTN node, adding more than 1,500 receivers and 16,000 acoustic transmitters to our global network. This enables researchers across the network, such as those working in places like the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Michigan, to cross-match detections and track tagged fish across much broader habitat ranges.

We love having river people like those at RAFT in our network! Here’s to working together to build promising futures for migratory fish!

Learn more about RAFT: https://usgs.gov/apps/raft

📸 1: Jacob Harrison, Hanna Lavin, and Amelia Finnell (USFWS Carterville FWCO) with a 90lb Lake Sturgeon caught and tagged below Mississippi River Lock and Dam 22. Photo Credit: USFWS Carterville FWCO

📸 2: Team of biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources tagging invasive carp on the upper Mississippi River near La Crosse, Wisconsin. Photo Credit: Brad Morris, USGS.

📸 3: Team of biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources tagging a Lake Sturgeon to assess fish passage at Lock and Dam 5 on the upper Mississippi River. Photo Credit: Andrea Fritts, USGS.

📸 4: Amanda Milde (USGS), Judy Denzer (lockmaster, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lock and Dam 5), and Carli Wagner (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) with an American Paddlefish being tagged to assess fish passage at Lock and Dam 5. Photo credit: Andrea Fritts, USGS.