Institute of Marine Research

The Institute of Marine Research (IMR) is the biggest research institute of its kind in Europe, with about 1,000 employees. Our 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 our marine ecosystems and the whole food chain from the sea to the table.

Our head office is in Bergen. We 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. We are a neutral knowledge provider, and we publicise our 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 our funding. The rest of our funding comes from external research grants.