The origins of the Scottish Marine Biological Association can be traced back to the Challenger Expedition, the first major oceanographic expedition which investigated the oceans of the world from 1872-1876 . Dr (later Sir) John Murray recognised that studies of the coastal waters of Scotland might shed further light on the phenomena which had been observed in the deep ocean basins and through his efforts the Scottish Meteorological Society established a permanent marine laboratory in 1884 . Prior to occupying a building on shore, work was carried out in the Ark, a canal barge converted to a floating laboratory, which was moored in a sea-flooded quarry at Granton, on the Firth of Forth.
In 1885 Murray transferred the Ark to the west coast where it was beached at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae and became a centre for marine research until, as a result of the enthusiasm of Dr David Robertson and a committee of Glasgow naturalists, the Millport Marine Station was opened in 1897 . Four years later the title was changed to Millport Marine Biological Association of the West of Scotland and the present title was adopted in 1914 when the Association was incorporated as a non-profit making company to promote research and education in marine biology.
In 1950 the Association assumed the additional responsibility of the Oceanographic Laboratory, Edinburgh. The work of that laboratory, initiated by Professor Sir Alister Clavering Hardy , was formerly carried on at the Department of Zoology and Oceanography, University College, Hull. Its first aim was to apply knowledge of the plankton to the study of fluctuations in commercial fisheries, but its field of activity steadily widened over the years to embrace a study of the variation of plankton and its environment in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Oceanographic Laboratory, Edinburgh, remained the responsibility of the Association until it was taken over by the Natural Environment Research Council in 1970 to form the nucleus of the Institute for Marine Environmental Research. In 1967 construction of a new home for the Association was started on the mainland of the west coast, near Oban, Argyll, and by 1970 all the research activities of the Association had been transferred from Millport to this new laboratory, Dunstaffinage Marine Research Laboratory. The Marine Station at Millport formally became the University Marine Biological Station, Millport , administered by the Universities of London and Glasgow, and concerned with Undergraduate teachers and research in marine biology and the supply of marine material. The Association still operates at Dunstaffinage but now operates as the Scottish Association For Marine Science .
From the guide to the Records of the Scottish Marine Biological Association, 1901-, scientific research stations, Millport and Oban, Scotland, 1901-1994, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
