The project, called the Ocean Tracking Network, aims to collect data on sea creatures' migrations using microchips that vary in size from a peanut to an AA battery embedded in salmon, whales, polar bears, penguins and others.

The inexpensive devices would transmit information about their travels, as well as water temperatures, salinity and even light conditions at various depths and locations, as they pass through an extensive international array of acoustic receivers on the sea floor, or via satellites when they surface, or when they are recaptured.

"Today we know less about our marine life -- how these animals live, where they go -- than we know about the back side of the moon," said project leader Ron O'Dor in a statement.

The information collected may be used by authorities to decide when fisheries should be open or closed to conserve endangered stocks, and to provide insights into how animal behaviors change should ocean waters continue to warm, he said.

"Contrary to 19th-century views that the oceans were essentially infinite, the 20th century showed us that human activities can transform ocean ecosystems on a global scale and the 21st century, so far, leaves little doubt that problems will compound as climate change occurs," O'Dor said.

Some 35 academics, scientists and technical experts will meet over three days in Halifax in eastern Canada to launch the project, which expands on the work of two North America-based programs that have already tracked the movements of sturgeon, halibut, shark, tuna, whale, elephant seals, seabirds, sea turtles and sharks around the world using electronic tags.

A Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking array now stretches more than 1,750 kilometers from Oregon through British Columbia beyond the Alaskan panhandle, tracking wild salmon from US and Canadian rivers.

At the Halifax conference, scientists will decide which species to track and where to begin set up of the new network.

The group is also seeking 32 million US dollars from the Canadian government to complete the project, which is expected to cost a total 150 million US dollars for ship time, tagging, data harvesting and interpretation. International donors are expected to chip in the remainder.

"All the errors made in the past in managing fish stocks were made because we did not fully understand that fish stocks migrate," O'Dor told AFP.

Some species actually travel great distances, he noted, pointing to a tuna recently tracked by satellite that crisscrossed the Pacific three times from California to Japan in two years.

The aim of this project is to enhance knowledge globally, he said. Delegates have been invited from all corners of the world to help map fish movements.

New technologies will allow tracking for up to 20 years, he said.

An initial array of acoustic receivers is expected to be set up soon in Prince William Sound on Canada's west coast to track salmon sharks in the northern Gulf of Alaska region, conference organizers said.

Later, it will be expanded to span 14 regions in the Arctic and Southern Oceans, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific.

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