Science Centres: Fisheries

NIWA now has some 1270 bacterial isolates in the marine micro-organism collection. Our biotechnology team are isolating bacterial strains from a wide variety of marine material, ranging from tunicates, sponges, and seaweeds, found in the shallows, to deep-sea sediments, found at depths of 3000 metres. We have found several new species and genera, and are growing them in the lab. The bacterial strains are being tested for their biotechnological properties, for possible use as agrochemicals, pharmaceutical drugs, or cosmetics.