About Us > The Rise of Regional Marine Biotechnology Associations

Modern marine biotechnology first developed in the U.S. and Australia during the 1970’s and 1980’s. These initiatives were followed by strong public sector involvement in Japan in 1989, when the Japanese government, together with 19 companies (MITI), created two Marine Bio-technology Institutes, organized an International Marine Biotechnology Conference (IMBC’89), founded a Japanese Biotechnology Society and established the Journal of Marine Biotechnology. In the U.S., The Journal of Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology was formed in the early 1990’s to handle an increasing number of manuscripts on molecular techniques applied to marine animals. IMBC’89 was followed by con-ferences in Baltimore, US, 1991; TromsØ, Norway, 1994; and Sorrento, Italy, 1997. IMBC’00 will be held in September, 2000 in Townsville, Australia.

Following IMBC’91, it was recognized that regional marine biotechnology associations were needed to foster Marine Biotechnology research, development and commercialization, and to provide a framework for the planning and organi-zation of the ‘IMBC’ international conferences.

The Japanese Society for Marine Biotechnology was the first to be organized (1989). Its annual meetings have attracted 200-400 participants and approximately 20 companies.

The Asian-Pacific Marine Biotechnology Society was founded in 1995 following the IMBC’94 meeting. This society initially encompassed Indo-nesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Palau, Philippines and Thailand. Their regional conferences (Shimuzi, Japan and Phuket, Thailand) have drawn some 400 participants from 15 countries.

The European Society for Marine Biotechnology (ESMB) was formed in 1994 in TromsØ, Norway.

During the IMBC’97 meeting in Italy, an organi-zational meeting was held to explore the creation of a marine biotechnology association for the Americas. The International Biotecnologia Habana ’98, held in Havana, Cuba, proved a second opportunity for such discussions. These two meetings led to the formation of the Pan American Marine Biotechnology Association, which was formally founded at a meeting in Halifax, Canada, in 1999.