In November 1996, the Scientific Institute of Marine Fisheries (ISPM) has become a public science, endowed with legal personality and financial autonomy. His new appointment is: National Fisheries Research Institute (NHRI).
The tasks entrusted are as follows:
- Evaluation of fishery resources and monitoring their exploitation;
- Study of the functioning of marine and coastal ecosystems;
- Monitoring the quality and safety of the marine environment;
- Testing of fishing techniques and development of seafood;
- Assessment of aquaculture potential of the national coastline and conduct of research, to contribute to the development of aquaculture in Morocco.
And to perform these tasks in the best conditions, the Institute is organized in three scientific departments which are themselves subdivided into units of Research and Development (URD). Each URD consists in turn of laboratories. In total NHRI has 9 URD and 20 laboratories.