About

The Institute of Marine Research (IMR) is one of the biggest marine research institutes in Europe, with about 1,000 employees. Their main activities are research, advisory work and monitoring.

In January 2018, the IMR was merged with NIFES – the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research. The new institute will be a leading supplier of knowledge relating to the sustainable management of the resources in their marine ecosystems and the whole food chain from the sea to the table.

Their head office is in Bergen. They also have an office in Tromsø and research stations in Matre, Austevoll and Flødevigen. In addition, the Research Vessel Department has ownership responsibility for the research vessels, which are its most important tools for collecting marine data. The IMR also has several laboratories that analyse the samples taken by its monitoring and research programmes.

Through its research and advice, the IMR seeks to help society to continue exploiting the valuable assets in the sea sustainably. They are a neutral knowledge provider, and they publicise their research results both in Norway and internationally.

The IMR is affiliated to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, which also provides around half of their funding. The rest of their funding comes from external research grants.