HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- First Results to be Announced

Marine scientists from around the world will be homing in on Halifax next week when they converge on Dalhousie University for the First Annual Ocean Tracking Network Conference June 4 to June 6. The conference is the official launch of the Ocean Tracking Network and appropriately coincides with World Ocean Day on June 6. The conference will feature opening remarks by former Oceanographer of the US Navy, Rear Admiral (retired) Richard West, and a trade show beginning on Thursday, June 5. A media conference announcing progress to date and any activity from the receivers will be held on Friday, June 6. Media interviews for key researchers can be arranged via phone or e-mail from June 4-6.

Headquartered at Dalhousie, the OTN is an international research effort that spans the globe to track marine animals and gather new information about our oceans and how they're changing. It has already captured world-wide attention for its far-reaching, groundbreaking research potential, and now the OTN is one of the first international ocean observing projects to have equipment in the oceans collecting data. At this moment acoustic receivers are listening for signals from tagged fish along the first 22 km of the OTN's Halifax Line, which will soon extend 170 km to the continental shelf.

The information gathered from these receivers will enhance the ability for marine scientists to understand marine animal behaviour and study and deal with the effects of climate change, a fitting connection to this year's World Ocean Day theme, "helping our climate/helping our ocean."

Date: Friday, June 6, 2008 Time: 10:30 a.m. ET Location: Room 1009, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building 6100 University Ave., Dalhousie University

Media inquiries, contact:

Billy Comeau, Public Relations Officer, Dalhousie University, +1-902-494-6880, email: william.comeau@dal.ca

Media inquiries, contact: Billy Comeau, Public Relations Officer, Dalhousie University, +1-902-494-6880, email: william.comeau@dal.ca