CSIRO Marine Research

==Description and formation==

==Description and formation==

[[File:CSIRO Marine Laboratories 20171117-006 (2).jpg|thumb|CSIRO Marine Laboratories, Castray Esplanade, Hobart (2017 photograph), home to CSIRO Division of Marine Research and its forerunners]]

CSIRO Marine Research (full/alternate name: CSIRO Division of Marine Research; abbreviation within CSIRO: CMR) was a Division of CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation), [[Australia]]'s national science research agency, in existence from 1997 to 2005. It was formed as a merger between the pre-existing Divisions of Fisheries and Oceanography, which had been separated since 1981, but previously a single Division "Fisheries and Oceanography". It ceased to exist as a named entity (although its work was carried on) in 2005 when it was merged with the [[CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research]] under the new name [[CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research]]. The merger was noted without any stated rationale in the 1996-97 CSIRO Annual ReportCSIRO Australia, 1997: CSIRO Annual Report for Year 1996-97. Available at https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CSIRO_Annual_Report_1996-1997.pdf, thus it is not on the public record whether the drivers were scientific or cost saving (maintaining the overheads of a single larger Division notionally more efficient than for two smaller ones), or perhaps both; in any event, many aspects of the science operations continued virtually unchanged, with oceanographers continuing to study the physics and chemistry of the oceans, and fisheries scientists the biota that lived within them, plus providing advice to managers with respect to sustainable harvesting.{{efn|Historically, oceanographers tend to have backgrounds in physics and chemistry, and study the oceans and their features irrespective of whether or not they sustain fisheries; they may also have an interest in how the oceans affect global climate. Fisheries scientists, on the other hand, are biologists who are interested in the quantities and distributions of fish that live in the oceans, their value as a resource for human or other consumption, their biology (including the food chains that support them), and/or their conservation as representatives of marine biodiversity, although clearly the prevailing oceanographic conditions play a part in governing distributions and life cycles of the species under study; fisheries scientists also tend to work closely with the fishing industry, and with managers of fishing activity (typically governments) who have a responsibility to prevent over-fishing of available stocks. Research vessels for fishery activities tend to be ships equipped with nets and other gear for sampling fish populations, whereas oceanographic vessels are often smaller and more like floating analytical laboratories, and may also travel to locations which are of little or no interest for fisheries research. The merits, or not, of combining the two disciplines under the auspices of a single research agency can be debated both ways; arguably, a "whole of ecosystem" approach should indeed encompass both elements.}} One benefit of the merger was the formation of a Divisional Data Centre to manage and disseminate scientific data from both former Divisions from a single access point.{{Cite journal |url=https://tos.org/oceanography/article/biological-data-and-metadata-initiatives-at-csiro-marine-research-australia |last1=Rees |first1=T. |last2=Finney |first2=K. |year=2000 |title='Biological data and metadata initiatives at CSIRO Marine Research, Australia, with implications for the design of OBIS |journal=Oceanography |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=60-65 |doi=10.5670/oceanog.2000.11|doi-access=free }}

CSIRO Marine Research (full/alternate name: CSIRO Division of Marine Research; abbreviation within CSIRO: CMR) was a Division of CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation), [[Australia]]'s national science research agency, in existence from 1997 to 2005. It was formed as a merger between the pre-existing Divisions of Fisheries and Oceanography, which had been separated since 1981, but previously a single Division "Fisheries and Oceanography". It ceased to exist as a named entity (although its work was carried on) in 2005 when it was merged with the [[CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research]] under the new name [[CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research]]. The merger was noted without any stated rationale in the 1996-97 CSIRO Annual ReportCSIRO Australia, 1997: CSIRO Annual Report for Year 1996-97. Available at https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CSIRO_Annual_Report_1996-1997.pdf, thus it is not on the public record whether the drivers were scientific or cost saving (maintaining the overheads of a single larger Division notionally more efficient than for two smaller ones), or perhaps both; in any event, many aspects of the science operations continued virtually unchanged, with oceanographers continuing to study the physics and chemistry of the oceans, and fisheries scientists the biota that lived within them, plus providing advice to managers with respect to sustainable harvesting.{{efn|Historically, oceanographers tend to have backgrounds in physics and chemistry, and study the oceans and their features irrespective of whether or not they sustain fisheries; they may also have an interest in how the oceans affect global climate. Fisheries scientists, on the other hand, are biologists who are interested in the quantities and distributions of fish that live in the oceans, their value as a resource for human or other consumption, their biology (including the food chains that support them), and/or their conservation as representatives of marine biodiversity, although clearly the prevailing oceanographic conditions play a part in governing distributions and life cycles of the species under study; fisheries scientists also tend to work closely with the fishing industry, and with managers of fishing activity (typically governments) who have a responsibility to prevent over-fishing of available stocks. Research vessels for fishery activities tend to be ships equipped with nets and other gear for sampling fish populations, whereas oceanographic vessels are often smaller and more like floating analytical laboratories, and may also travel to locations which are of little or no interest for fisheries research. The merits, or not, of combining the two disciplines under the auspices of a single research agency can be debated both ways; arguably, a "whole of ecosystem" approach should indeed encompass both elements.}} One benefit of the merger was the formation of a Divisional Data Centre to manage and disseminate scientific data from both former Divisions from a single access point.{{Cite journal |url=https://tos.org/oceanography/article/biological-data-and-metadata-initiatives-at-csiro-marine-research-australia |last1=Rees |first1=T. |last2=Finney |first2=K. |year=2000 |title='Biological data and metadata initiatives at CSIRO Marine Research, Australia, with implications for the design of OBIS |journal=Oceanography |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=60-65 |doi=10.5670/oceanog.2000.11|doi-access=free }}