Tracking the High Seas: Biologging To Define Marine-Protected Areas on the High Seas

Advances in animal tagging and tracking technologies have opened up a whole ocean of possibilities, extending far offshore into the high seas. Better than ever before, we are beginning to understand how animals travel beyond our human borders.  In these areas beyond national jurisdictions, management of human activities, like fishing, require multilateral agreements. Previously, regulation has been sparse, if at all. However, with increasing pressures on our natural resources, there is growing global recognition that conservation efforts cannot stop at our exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Researchers, particularly those involved in biologging, have a unique opportunity to inform these processes now, while the decisions are being formulated. But are they? How effective have we been to date in linking our new understandings of animal movements to meaningful policy decisions? This talk will argue that it has been a mixed story so far, and will end with recommendations on how the situation can be improved.