Norway’s Institute of Marine Research (HI) is celebrating its 125th anniversary this month – but the event is more about the future than the past. Director Nils Gunnar Kvamstø says the milestone is “a perfect opportunity to look ahead and remember why we exist.”
Looking to the next century
Founded on 15 October 1900 under Johan Hjort, the country’s first fisheries director, HI began with one key question: why were fish abundant one year and scarce the next? Today, the challenge is far broader.
“It’s not only about where the fish are,” says Kvamstø. “It’s about how to care for the ocean and harvest it wisely for the next 125 years.”
The institute now faces three major tasks: adapting to climate change, managing competing coastal interests, and maintaining public trust in science.
Warming seas and shared coastlines
Kvamstø notes that warming waters are already reshaping marine life.
“Mackerel are moving north, cod are under pressure in the south, and our fjords experience heatwaves,” he says. “Climate change is not coming – it’s here.”
He also highlights growing competition for coastal space between fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, and offshore industries. HI is developing tools to help local authorities balance these pressures and understand cumulative environmental impacts.
Finally, the director points to trust as “the foundation of all knowledge”. “Science that isn’t used has little value,” he says. “The ocean belongs to everyone, and so must the knowledge about it.”