Example of worldwide ship distribution based on AIS data sources (copyright www.sailwx.info). See Hayes et al. (2013) for more detail.
Do you use acoustic radar to track animal movements? A recent paper from Hayes et al. in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes investigates the limits to this technology. Two of their recommendations for future developments? …mount receiver systems on the hulls of oceanic vessels as well as on oceanographic buoys.
The authors estimate that there are 40,000-70,000 vessels at sea at any one time, and NOAA deploys 1,060 buoys while the ARGO float network has 3,000 buoys. This would give near complete coverage of all marine environments!
