The way animals behave provide insight into their behaviour, physiology and ecology. Collecting such data for marine animals is difficult due to their sub-surface habits and sometimes migratory nature. Remote sensing techniques such as aerial and underwater surveys and tracking, animal-borne video and tags, and remote stationary cameras (baited or unbaited) are innovative and cost-effective methods of surveying and tracking animals and monitoring their behaviours.

MEG is currently involved in a diverse array of projects using remote sensing techniques for a range of questions, including tracking sharks and rays in complex habitats with drones, satellite tagging sawsharks to better understand their movement ecology, monitoring goatfish colour change with Remote Underwater Video (RUVs) and chasing butterflyfishes with Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to assess fine-scale behaviour. Members of MEG have also used drones to estimate the abundance and subsequent bioturbation of holothurians on coral reefs, thus shedding light on the ecological roles these animals may play in calcium carbonate budgets.