Based in Aberdeen, it has a strong focus on fisheries (demersal, pelagic) and shellfisheries, there has always been an environmental component to the science, and aquaculture in particular has become a significant area of research.
Shore-based activities at the Marine Laboratory are conducted in well-equipped laboratories and aquaria. These cover areas including analytical chemistry (contaminants, nutrients, ocean acidification, micro-plastics), biology, ecotoxicology, acoustics, virology, bacteriology, pathology, physics, ecology, plankton, otolith reading, fish scale reading and a fish house.