The Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS) was established by the Victorian
Institute of Marine Sciences Act 1974 as a body corporate, its objects including:
'to provide facilities for and foster, carry on and support scientific research and
technological development in all branches of learning concerning or touching upon
marine sciences, including but without limiting the generality of that expression,
the sea, the sea-bed, sea shores, and the resources and inhabitants thereof and mankind's
relationship with the use of the sea'. VIMS began operations in 1978. In July 1996
the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences, along with two other marine and freshwater
groups, became a part of the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute (MAFRI). In
1998 the decision was made to repeal the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences Act
1974 and to include the Institute as part of the Fisheries Division of the Department
of Natural Resources and Environment. In 2002 it was handed over to the newly formed
Department of Primary Industries. This Department is now known as the Department of
Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), as of 2014 .(Courtesy of Encyclopedia
of Australian Science)
