“We have already entered a period of irreversible change,” Dr Constantinos Mylonas, director of IMBBC, told Kathimerini in September 2026, pointing to the hundreds of species that have reached Greek seas through the Suez Canal and shipping, many of them thriving as the water warms [1]. Documenting and responding to such change is the daily work of the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (ΙΘΑΒΒΥΚ), one of the three institutes of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), based at the Thalassocosmos campus in Gournes, east of Heraklion [2]. Its stated mission is to remain a European centre of excellence and to serve society, public administration and business in the study, conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources [3].
From genes to ecosystems. The institute works through two research sectors, Marine Biology & Biotechnology and Aquaculture, focused on aquaculture, genomics and molecular biotechnology, marine biodiversity and ecosystem management [4]. Its scientists study biodiversity from genes to ecosystems and from microbes to animals, assess ecological status as habitats change, and use population genetics to follow how species respond to warming and invasions [3]. Genomics also serves conservation: with the monk-seal society MOm, within the EU programme Biodiversity Genomics Europe, IMBBC researchers sampled an orphaned monk-seal pup for genomic research on the species [5]. Its September 2026 papers alone ranged from new records of alien species and microbial traces of Santorini’s hydrothermal past to epigenetic patterns of stress in fish [3].
Fish farming with a future. In aquaculture, IMBBC studies how reproduction can be controlled in captivity and develops high-performing, environmentally safe feeds with sustainable ingredients – feed makes up about 60% of production costs – while -omics methods reveal the genetic basis of traits in farmed fish [3]. Work on new species such as meagre, greater amberjack and Atlantic bluefin tuna supports the diversification of Mediterranean fish farming, with methods tested in pilot-scale floating sea cages [3, 6].
Infrastructure and services. This research runs on shared facilities – broodstock and pilot hatchery units, a feed production unit, fish-health and vaccine laboratories, a DNA sequencing platform, bioimaging, a high-performance computing system, a scientific diving unit and an Underwater Biotechnological Park – open to academic and industrial users [6] and linked to the European research infrastructures EMBRC and LifeWatch [7]. Industry, universities and public authorities turn to the institute for aquafeed evaluation, fish-health checks and experimental vaccines, genetic analysis, micro-CT imaging, taxonomic identification, and environmental assessment and monitoring [8].
Science in public. On the same campus, CRETAquarium presents about 1,500 animals of 130 Mediterranean species in 62 tanks holding 1.8 million litres of seawater, and runs educational programmes for schools and visitors [9]. IMBBC scientists take part in the ocean-literacy work of EMSEA, EuroGOOS and the EU4Ocean Coalition [10], and the institute is a partner in BlueLightS, a Horizon Europe project that funds “Blue Challenge” projects in European schools [11]. HCMR’s Education Unit, run by volunteer researchers, hosts school, university and teacher groups in the laboratories and introduces students to training and job prospects in marine science [12]. The visit of the BLUE OCEAN Erasmus+ group to IMBBC in Heraklion fits this role exactly: the blue careers the project promotes are practised here every day [13].
Today IMBBC is at once a research institute, a service provider, a node of European research infrastructure and a public educator. In a sea that its own director describes as already changing irreversibly, that combination – evidence, practical solutions and an ocean-literate public – is exactly what Crete and the wider Mediterranean need.
Sources (web pages accessed 21 September 2026)
[1] Kathimerini (2026). Interview with Dr Constantinos Mylonas, director of IMBBC; reposted at imbbc.hcmr.gr, 8 Sept 2026.
[2] HCMR. Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC). hcmr.gr
[3] IMBBC. Home page: mission, research lines and latest publications. imbbc.hcmr.gr
[4] IMBBC. Research Directions. imbbc.hcmr.gr/research-directions
[5] Cretalive (2026). [A newborn orphan seal opens new scientific horizons for the conservation of its species], 30 June 2026.
[6] IMBBC. Facilities in IMBBC. imbbc.hcmr.gr/infrastructures/facilitiesimbbc
[7] IMBBC. European Research Infrastructures (EMBRC-ERIC, LifeWatch ERIC). imbbc.hcmr.gr
[8] IMBBC. Services. imbbc.hcmr.gr/services
[9] CRETAquarium. Identity; Educational programmes. cretaquarium.gr
[10] IMBBC. Ocean Literacy. imbbc.hcmr.gr/education/ocean-literacy
[11] IMBBC. BlueLightS project page; “BlueLightS Third Call for Blue Challenges in European Schools”, 27 Apr 2026.
[12] IMBBC / HCMR. Education Unit. imbbc.hcmr.gr/education/education-unit
[13] BLUE OCEAN Erasmus+ project, 2024-MT01-KA220-SCH-00254518. blueoceanerasmus.com