Marine Labs and Institutes

The marine station in Naples, Italy, was founded by Anton Dohrn of Germany. It opened in 1872 and is the world’s oldest marine station.

Unfortunately, the Bay of Naples has become increasingly polluted. The Dohrn family’s island retreat on nearby Isla d’Ischia now serves as a satellite station, offering more pristine conditions.

The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, dates back to 1888. It was the first marine station established in North America.

In addition to the Marine Biological Laboratory in the small town of Woods Hole on Cape Cod is the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which emphasizes research toward open- or blue-water oceanography.

The Plymouth Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association of the UK is located on Citadel Hill in Plymouth in southwestern England.

A marine station on the island of Corsica, France, has been affiliated with the University of Liege, Belgium, for some years and facilitates research carried out by international scientists.

The Station biologique de Roscoff is located on the Brittany coast of France. It is just one of some 500 marine station scattered around the world, where scientists study the biology, geology, chemistry, and physical properties of the oceans.

This is a view of the main laboratory building of Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington, Seattle. There are other smaller labs located on the property, which is on the east side of San Juan Island near the town of Friday Harbor. The labs are a four-hour trip north of Seattle (2 hours by car to Anacortes and then a two-hour ferry ride out to San Juan Island).

The Marine Science Institute (“Window on the Sea”) is affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin and is located on a coastal barrier island in the city of Port Aransas. Founded in 1941, the Marine Science Institute now consists of a series of interconnected laboratories, classrooms, a library, museum, and exhibit halls on 72 acres of beachfront land at the north end of Mustang Island and next to the man-made jetty lining the Aransas Pass ship channel.

Dating back to 1904, the Portobello Marine Laboratory is the oldest established marine station in Australasia. It is located on Otago Harbor on the southeast coast of the South Island of New Zealand and has access to diverse cool-temperate marine communities of the southern hemisphere. [Images courtesy of Brian Swale.]