Tromsø department

Marbank became part of IMR in 2012, and is located at Forskningsparken in Tromsø. In addition, the IMR has a field station in Holmfjord in Finnmark where research on coastal and fjord ecology is conducted.

In total, the Tromsø department employs ab. 70 persons, with Svein Harald Johannessen as our manager. Scientists and technicians operate in different research groups:

• Benthic resources and processes (led from Tromsø: Erik Berg)
• Bottom community and coastal interactions
• Deep-water species and cartilaginous fish (led from Tromsø: Ole Thomas Albert)
• Fisheries dynamics
• Population genetics
• Marine mammals (led from Tromsø: Martin Biuw)
• Disease and pathogen transmission
• Ecosystem processes
• Oceanography and climate

In addition, these programs are directed from Tromsø:

• Marbank (Kjersti Lie Gabrielsen)
• Program Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean (Maria Fossheim)

IMR is a part of the Fram Centre (http://www.framsenteret.no) and is responsible of two of the five research flagships:

• Ocean acidification and ecosystems effects in northern waters (Led by IMR: Melissa Chierici)
• Effects of climate change on sea and coastal ecology in the north (Led by IMR: Lis Lindal Jørgensen)

In addition, the institute is involved in the flagships:

• Environmental impacts of industrial development in the north (MIKON)
• Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, technology and agreements

The department is linked to other research institutions in Tromsø, among others: the Faculty of Biosciences and the Faculty of Fisheries and Economics of UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Polar Institute and NOFIMA.

From the opening of Framsenteret. Photo: Gunnar Sætra, IMR