What happens after a shark disappears beneath the surface?
Traditional surveys can tell researchers where an animal was observed at a particular moment. But highly mobile marine species can move between coastal habitats, continental shelf margins, deep water and offshore environments, often travelling beyond the areas scientists are able to monitor directly.
Satellite telemetry provides researchers with another way of investigating what happens next.
From October to December 2026, the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) will enter a new satellite-tagging field season in the Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique.
Working through the BCSS Ocean Observatory and in collaboration with Kisawa Sanctuary and IFREMER, the programme uses satellite telemetry alongside long-term environmental and biological observations to investigate the movements and habitat use of threatened marine predators.
For a limited number of participants, the 2026 field season will also provide an opportunity to experience this work from within the research environment through the BCSS Scientific Training Program (STP).
This is not a shark-watching expedition. It is operational marine science with training built into the experience.
Image: Gunnar Oberhosel
Following Marine Megafauna Beyond the Observatory
Satellite tagging is the latest chapter in a much longer research programme at BCSS.
Through the Ocean Observatory, researchers have been building long-term datasets describing the marine environment surrounding the Bazaruto Archipelago and wider Mozambique Channel. Since 2019, this work has increasingly incorporated shark and marine megafauna telemetry alongside acoustic tagging, visual surveys, environmental observations and associated ecological research.
Acoustic telemetry can reveal valuable information about habitat use, residency and movement. Animals fitted with electronic transmitters can be detected when they pass within range of underwater acoustic receivers, gradually building a record of their movements through monitored areas.
But there is an obvious limitation: what happens when the animal leaves the receiver network?
For highly mobile species, satellite telemetry can help researchers begin looking beyond those boundaries.
Tagged Hammerhead shark. Photo: Orlando Miranda & Salvador Colvee
How Does Satellite Tagging Work?
Since 2024, BCSS has been developing its satellite-tagging programme in collaboration with IFREMER using MiniPAT-430 pop-up archival satellite tags, manufactured by Wildlife Computers.
These small scientific instruments travel with an animal while recording information about its environment and behaviour.
Depending on the deployment and data recovered, the tags can provide information relating to horizontal movement, diving behaviour, depth use, water temperature, changes in habitat through time and broad-scale connectivity between marine areas.
After a programmed period – or if the tag releases earlier – the MiniPAT detaches from the animal, floats to the surface and begins transmitting stored information through the ARGOS satellite system.
In exceptional circumstances, a tag may later be physically recovered, providing access to a more complete high-resolution archival dataset stored inside the instrument.
A relatively small device can therefore provide researchers with an entirely different perspective on an animal that might otherwise disappear from human observation within seconds.
Why Track Marine Predators?
Large sharks do not experience the ocean according to the boundaries drawn on maps.
An individual may use reef environments, continental shelf margins, deep-water habitats or offshore areas at different stages of its life. Some species may also move through waters managed by different regions or countries.
Understanding these movements can help scientists investigate which habitats animals use, when they use them and how different marine areas may be connected.
This is particularly valuable in the Western Indian Ocean, where large areas remain comparatively understudied relative to better-monitored shark populations elsewhere in the world.
Each successful deployment contributes another piece to a much larger ecological picture.
Image: Gunnar Oberhosel
Connecting Animal Movement with the Ocean Around It
Satellite tagging at BCSS is not an isolated research project.
Each deployment takes place within the wider framework of the BCSS Ocean Observatory, allowing animal observations to be considered alongside the station’s long-term environmental datasets.
When researchers encounter or tag an animal, information about its location and surrounding conditions can be recorded and considered alongside broader observations relating to ocean conditions, water-column characteristics, bathymetry, weather and marine megafauna occurrence.
This means researchers can begin moving beyond the question: Where did the animal go?
Towards another: Why might it be using particular parts of the ocean at particular times?
Connecting animal movement with the surrounding marine environment is a central part of modern movement ecology.
Building on Previous BCSS Field Seasons
Recent BCSS, Kisawa, and IFREMER satellite-tagging campaigns have focused particularly on hammerhead and zebra sharks, combining telemetry with years of Ocean Observatory surveys and environmental monitoring.
The programme has brought together BCSS researchers and field teams with international scientific collaborators and specialist underwater photographers from Europe and southern Africa. The resulting datasets are now supporting multiple scientific analyses and peer-reviewed research outputs.
Some of this research is still progressing through scientific publication. For this reason, BCSS will not publicly release detailed movement tracks, sensitive locations or significant unpublished biological findings ahead of peer review.
What can be shared is that the programme is generating new information about species whose large-scale movement ecology remains poorly documented in the Western Indian Ocean.
The 2026 season will build further on that long-term dataset.
Image: Dr Mario Lebrato
Inside the 2026 Satellite Tagging Season
From October through December 2026, the BCSS Ocean Observatory team plans to undertake an intensive new phase of satellite telemetry work.
The research programme aims to deploy satellite tags on approximately 6–8 hammerhead sharks, subject to animal encounters, environmental conditions and research protocols.
The exact number of successful deployments cannot be guaranteed.
Wild animals determine the schedule.
Weather, sea state, animal occurrence, equipment, animal-welfare considerations and scientific protocols all determine whether a tagging operation can proceed on any particular day.
Some field days may involve hours of searching without a suitable tagging opportunity. On others, circumstances can change within minutes and the team must be prepared to respond.
That uncertainty is not a limitation of field science. It is field science.
Successful telemetry research requires preparation, patience, careful observation and the ability to work professionally when an opportunity finally appears.
For students and early-career scientists, experiencing that reality can be one of the most valuable aspects of field training.
Image: Gunnar Oberhosel
Experience the Research Through the Scientific Training Program
Satellite telemetry is normally something students encounter through lectures, published research or completed datasets. During the October–December 2026 field season, a limited number of BCSS Scientific Training Program participants will have the opportunity to experience the fieldwork behind that science firsthand.
This is not a demonstration or a wildlife excursion built around guaranteed encounters. Participants join a working marine research environment where fieldwork is dictated by the ocean, the animals and the requirements of the research.
Days at sea can be long. Teams may spend hours searching the outer shelf and offshore environments of the Bazaruto Archipelago, recording observations and assessing environmental conditions before a suitable research opportunity arises. Some days may produce an encounter. Others may not. When conditions do align, the research team needs to be prepared to respond efficiently and according to established scientific and animal-welfare protocols.
That process is part of the training.
Depending on field conditions, individual qualifications, research requirements and staff supervision, STP participants may gain hands-on experience across different stages of the field programme, including:
- preparing scientific and field equipment before departure;
- shark and marine megafauna survey techniques;
- species identification and behavioural observations;
- recording GPS positions and environmental conditions;
- scientific data logging and field documentation;
- learning how satellite telemetry equipment and tagging protocols work;
- supporting biological and environmental data collection;
- Ocean Observatory monitoring and data management; and
- understanding how information collected at sea progresses into telemetry analysis and scientific research.
All animal handling and tag deployment remains under the control of authorised research personnel, and participation in a particular capture or deployment cannot be guaranteed.
But the value of the experience extends well beyond the moment a tag is deployed.
Participants see how researchers prepare for fieldwork, make decisions at sea, respond to changing conditions, collect data systematically and manage that information once they return to the station. They experience the patience, uncertainty and long hours that are fundamental to studying highly mobile marine animals in the wild.
For students and early-career scientists, access to this kind of operational satellite-telemetry fieldwork is limited. The 2026 season provides a rare opportunity to learn within an active programme rather than only studying the methods after the research has been completed.
The objective is not simply to witness an animal being tagged.
It is to experience and understand the scientific process surrounding the entire operation.
What Does a Satellite-Tagging Field Day Actually Look Like?
There is no completely typical field day.
A tagging expedition may involve many hours searching the outer shelf and open-ocean environments surrounding the Bazaruto Archipelago while researchers continuously assess wildlife observations, environmental conditions and the suitability of each encounter.
When conditions align, the team must be able to move from observation to a carefully coordinated scientific operation involving field equipment, animal monitoring, measurements, tag preparation, documentation and safe release.
And the work does not finish when the boat returns to Benguerra Island.
Back at the station, research continues through data entry, quality control and environmental data integration. Following satellite transmission, the process extends into telemetry processing and interpretation.
For STP participants, this offers something difficult to recreate in a classroom: exposure to the operational chain of professional marine field research.
Image: Gunnar Oberhosel
Who Is the 2026 Placement For?
The satellite-tagging field season may be particularly relevant to marine biology and oceanography students, recent science graduates, early-career researchers, conservation students and practitioners, experienced divers interested in marine research, and those considering postgraduate study involving sharks, telemetry or movement ecology.
Participants do not need to arrive as telemetry specialists.
The purpose of the Scientific Training Program is to learn within a functioning research environment alongside scientists and technical staff.
What matters is curiosity, professionalism, adaptability and a willingness to participate in the realities of field science.
Why Bazaruto?
The Bazaruto Archipelago provides a dynamic natural setting for marine megafauna research.
Coral reefs, seagrass systems, shallow coastal habitats, steep shelf margins and deep oceanic waters occur within a comparatively small geographical area. Whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins, whales, turtles and numerous shark species move through this seascape.
BCSS’s permanent research presence on Benguerra Island means these environments can be studied repeatedly rather than solely through isolated short-term expeditions.
Each field season can therefore build upon the observations and environmental information collected before it.
That continuity is fundamental to the work of the Ocean Observatory and to developing a clearer long-term understanding of the Bazaruto seascape.
A Tag Lasts Months. The Scientific Contribution Can Last Much Longer.
A satellite tag is ultimately a temporary passenger.
The scientific information it generates can remain useful for years.
Combined with long-term observations, environmental measurements and future deployments, each dataset can contribute to a growing understanding of how threatened marine predators use this part of the Western Indian Ocean.
For the BCSS Ocean Observatory, the 2026 satellite-tagging season represents another step in building that long-term scientific record.
For a limited number of Scientific Training Program participants, it offers something different:
the opportunity to experience that process from inside a professional marine research environment.
Image: Gunnar Oberhosel
Limited STP Placements: October–December 2026
BCSS is currently accepting enquiries for a limited number of Scientific Training Program placements during the October–December 2026 satellite-tagging field season.
Because participant numbers are intentionally limited, those particularly interested in experiencing BCSS’s satellite telemetry research are encouraged to enquire early.
The programme is led within the BCSS research environment under Dr Mario Lebrato, Ocean Observatory & Station Manager at BCSS, together with the BCSS team and collaborating researchers.
Learn science. Experience the fieldwork. Contribute to long-term research.
Explore the BCSS Scientific Training Program and enquire about October–December 2026 placements.
*Satellite-tagging activities are scientific research operations undertaken under applicable research permissions and animal-welfare protocols. Tag deployments and wildlife encounters depend on environmental conditions and animal occurrence and cannot be guaranteed for individual participants.
More information:
For questions about this article, please contact:
Ekaterina Kalashnikova, Bazaruto Archipelago – Ocean Observatory Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies ekaterina.kalashnikova@bcssmz.org
To get in touch and collaborate with our research Center , please visit https://bcssmz.org/logistical-support-consultancy/
To learn more about our Scientific Training Program, please see https://bcssmz.org/scientific-training-program/