ANIMAL TELEMETRY NETWORK

Animal telemetry is the science of revealing the movements and behavior of animals as they move through the world’s oceans, coastal rivers, estuaries, and Great Lakes. Tags that are attached to animals have made it possible to collect high-quality biological and oceanographic observations on timescales varying from days to years as the animals move through aquatic habitats. These observations provide scientific information that is used to inform the management of marine fisheries and endangered and protected species, assess the potential effects of anthropogenic disturbances on aquatic species, help inform decisions about protecting and restoring healthy coastal ecosystems and improve ocean modeling and forecasting. Although considerable telemetry infrastructure and expertise exists in the U.S. these assets are often owned and operated independently by multiple Federal agencies and non-Federal institutions with limited or no connectivity. Lack of institutional connections prevents the scientific community from efficiently coordinating data and thereby best serving societal needs. Currently funded by BOEM, ONR and NOAA, the ATN maximizes the benefit of these existing investments by empowering alliances among Federal, industry, academic, state, local, tribal, and non‐Federal organizations to both coordinate and to provide funding for sustaining animal telemetry infrastructure and operations as well as consistently delivering animal telemetry data across the United States and with our international partners.