European aquatic animal Tracking Network

The European aquatic animal Tracking Network (ETN) is an initiative to integrate the aquatic animal tracking community in Europe with the mission to track aquatic animals to better understand, protect and manage them. It is a timely initiative that fits within the Ocean Decade: the EU Mission Ocean that aims to restore our ocean and waters, and to provide significant value to EU directives. ETN started as an idea in 2017, and from 2019 has been supported by the COST Action (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) for four years; the Action has helped ensure that the ETN will persist as a long-term platform for the European biotelemetry community. ETN is a dynamic organization focusing on four main pillars: 1) centralizing and sharing tracking data using FAIR principles; 2) working on technological advancements in the sector with a focus on inter-applicability and compatibility across instruments; 3) establishing telemetry infrastructure and research cooperation in key areas across Europe and initiate excellence in science, and; 4) providing continuous training and knowledge dissemination. To achieve our goals, we organize collaborative workshops, training courses, events and scientific missions, to improve our knowledge and cooperation, and expand collaborative projects that maximize impact. So far, this has been achieved by bringing together scientists from all over Europe and beyond, who work with marine and freshwater telemetry. In addition, we collectively seek funding for new initiatives linked to the pillars we work on or to get insights in specific challenges ETN aims to tackle.
We would like to add that the action proposed also support Research & Innovation and Education & Trainning.