HISTORY
The Port Royal Marine Laboratory was founded in 1955 by Professor of Zoology, Dr. David Steven and was then sited at the Old Naval Dockyard, Port Royal. The present facility was built five years later by monies given to the University by the Commonwealth Development Welfare Fund. Further expansion between 1962-1964 saw the creation of the present research facility.

LOCATION
The Laboratory is ideally situated at the end of the Palisadoes Tombolo (Figure 1) and within easy reach of a number of habitats and interesting research areas. The Port Royal Cays and the Hellshire coast provide coral reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats in relatively pristine conditions. The Kingston Harbour and the Port Royal Mangrove area has mangrove forests and lagoons and seagrass habitats in areas of high productivity. The water column of these areas also provide opportunity for study of planktonic communities, fisheries etc.

The lab is about 6 km from the Norman Manley International Airport which receives all international flights. It is also in close proximity to an international shipping Harbour (Figure 1) and the lab has a deep water pier.

Figure 1: Location of the Port Royal Marine Laboratory.