Off the coast of England, researchers are trying to track the movement of fish as they swim around Belgium, northern France and the coastlines of southern England.

Their research is part a $4.8 million cross-Channel project to learn more about where and why fish chose their habitats, which scientists currently don't know much about.

The researchers are tagging around 1,000 fish and monitoring seven locations along these coastlines. They are then using acoustic technology to monitor when and where fish move around their habitats. 

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"Whenever that fish is within range of one of our receivers, it will log the time and date that each individual fish made that sort of movement," Thomas Stamp, a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Plymouth who is working on the project, told AP. 

"By scattering these receivers around areas that we're interested in and more broadly across the English Channel, we can sort of piece together how these fish are behaving and what habitats are important."

The researchers hope that the data they collect can eventually be used by policy-makers to better protect these animals.

Video editing: Steve Chappell