Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Australia's tropical marine research agency, is recognised internationally for its leadership in research into tropical marine environments and their living aquatic resources. Our mission is to generate and transfer knowledge to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment through innovative, world-class scientific and technological research. 

• Conducts strategic and applied research into marine life, from microbes to whole-of-ecosystems, and the processes that sustain them
• Monitors condition and trends in health of the marine environment
• Builds models and decision support tools to assist interpretation of the data collected
• Develops a broad spectrum of enabling technologies, from molecular sciences to ocean technologies.

AIMS' research is targeted towards priorities of Commonwealth and State Governments and industry. The Institute's research programs continue to:

• Underpin Australia's environmental management of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to ensure that this World Heritage Area remains healthy and resilient
• Support the sustainable development of coastal industries and ports across northern Australia from Gladstone to the Pilbara
• Provide the environmental baselines and condition and risk assessments required for development of the offshore oil and gas industry in North Western Australia.

To ensure that the outputs of its research are transferred to users and have the required impact, AIMS actively engages with Government (Ministers, policy makers, resource managers and environmental regulators), private industry sectors (ports, oil and gas, mining, tourism, services), non-government organisations, scientific peers and the Australian public. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBvBQJaRKjs AIMS was established in 1972 near Townsville, in recognition of the importance of the GBR to Australia. Today AIMS also operates from bases in Perth and Darwin to support our research across northern Australia, spanning two oceans and three regional seas.