Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS)

The Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) was established in 1982 to foster collaborative research between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Oregon State University in fisheries ecosystem studies, aquaculture, oceanography, and marine-resource technology and related fields.

The present day CIMRS partnership brings together scientists from NOAA's NW Fisheries Science Center, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University to work on problems of mutual interest relating to the living and non-living components of the marine environment and their interrelationships. CIMRS research staff are currently involved in scientific efforts that parallel NOAA's program objectives in the areas of:

• Geological/chemical oceanography, specifically, assessing the effects of spreading-center hydrothermal venting on the marine physical, chemical, and biological environment, and defining the tectonic and volcanological processes producing oceanic crust at slow - and fast-spreading ridge systems
• Fisheries oceanography, long-term observations, mesoscale surveys and process studies of mesozooplankton and selected species of euphausiids off the Oregon/N. California coast, distribution and trophic interactions of juvenile salmonids and associated taxa off the Oregon/N. California coast, and chemical and biological implications of groundfish harvesting on the West Coast of the U.S.

CIMRS encourages and assists the education and training of scientists in disciplines related to marine resources by facilitating student internships, assistantships and workshops. (See CIMRS Events and Research Opportunities).