Scientists plan to tag up to one million sea creatures of all types in a worldwide effort to track the movements of marine life.

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WASHINGTON: The oceanic wanderings of everything from salmon to sharks may soon be revealed by a worldwide network of sensors tracking microchips implanted under their skin.

Sea creatures of all types will be tagged so they can be tracked as they swim past arrays of sensors placed at critical locations in the oceans. The tags, tiny acoustic transmitters, operate for up to 20 months, according to the project's website, and each animal's tag will be identified by a unique number, preventing confusion if it migrates from one ocean to another.

Following a pilot study in the north Pacific, the Ocean Tracking Network will expand to the Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico. The expansion, details of which were announced on Monday at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, will provide scientists and fisheries managers with vital information on the dynamics of the world's marine species.

The Ocean Tracking Network will "foster the development of new Canadian technology, a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change and help shape fisheries and endangered species management worldwide," said Peter MacKay, Canada's minister of foreign affairs and minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, in a statement.

Initial research for the effort was done as a joint U.S.-Canada project in the north Pacific. The eventual goal of the Ocean Tracking Network is to have 5,000 ocean receivers arranged in 60 lines worldwide, capable of tracking up to one million animals at the same time. Headquarters of the US$168 million (A$217 million) project will be at Dalhousie.

Some listening equipment already in use can be modified to become part of the program while other areas will need new equipment, officials said.

In the new system, tagged sea creatures will also collect data from other tagged animals they encounter. This means scientists studying data from a shark, for example, would also know what other tagged fish or marine mammals it had encountered or eaten in its travels.

The scientists said the tracking system will allow them to better understand animal movements and behaviour changes that occur due to global warming. This will help in managing fisheries for both conservation and business, they said.

The Ocean Tracking Network is the first global network of its type, and builds on previous regional endeavours that revealed the mysterious movements of great white sharks in the Pacific Ocean, seals and penguins around Antarctica, and whales in the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to Canada and the U.S., participants in the program include universities and organisations in South Africa, Australia, Japan, Spain, New Zealand, Portugal, Mexico, Iceland and Norway.