Location & Facilities

The Institute is strategically located in North Carolina's central coastal region on 6.5 acres of waterfront property on Bogue Sound in Morehead City.  The region is rich in estuarine and wetland habitats and includes the large embayments (e.g., Core, Pamlico, and Albemarle Sounds) that are typical of North Carolina's coast and tied to much of its seafood production.  A deep water port offers ready access to these embayments as well as the ecologically significant Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout areas.  Other nearby marine sciences-related facilities include the North Carolina State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST), the Duke University Marine Laboratory, the NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, the NOAA National Weather Service Forecasting Office, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, the North Carolina Shellfish Sanitation Dept and the North Carolina Aquarium.

The IMS campus is comprised of 51,000 sq ft of newly constructed and renovated laboratory, office, classroom, library and video conferencing space and a new shop/wet laboratory building with running sea water.  Outdoor ponds (concrete and earthen) provide seawater habitats for controlled experiments.  A dormitory offers short-term bunking accommodations for up to 16 students and 6 faculty.

A fleet of 7 trucks and 2 vans, 14 outboard motor-powered boats ranging in length from 17-25 feet and a modern 48 ft coastal vessel, the R.V. Capricorn, are available for field studies.  The R.V. Cape Hatteras, a fully-equipped 135 ft oceanographic ship operated by the Duke/UNC Oceanographic Consortium, is docked just minutes away.