The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), IP, is an organization created by Decree- Law No. 68/2012, March 20, under the supervision of the Ministry of the Sea. Since 2019, IPMA is tutored by the Ministry of the Sea in coordination with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and with the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action. IPMA, IP is a public institute, integrated in the indirect State Administration, endowed with administrative and financial autonomy and its own assets.
IPMA, is the State Laboratory in charge of the promotion and coordination of the scientific research, technological development, innovation, and the provision of services in the fields of the Sea and the Atmosphere, ensuring the implementation of national strategies and policies in their areas of activity, contributing to economic and social development. IPMA, I.P. is the national authority in the fields of assessment and advice for the management of fishery resources and their ecosystems. It is also responsible for the classification of bivalves for human consumption and for the classification of the transition waters for fish purposes.
IPMA, is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of observation networks, geophysical, oceanographic, living resources and fisheries, and by the operation of the corresponding alerts, in conjunction with the national authorities for civil protection, the environment and food security.
IPMA has a high scientific and technological capacity in the areas of Meteorology and Climate, Geophysics and Marine Geology, the Marine Environment, the Marine Living Resources, Aquaculture and Marine Biotechnology, with strong national and international projection in its areas of intervention, contributing decisively as a State Laboratory for the country’s scientific and technological development.
This State Laboratory is responsible to promote and coordinate scientific research, technological development, and innovation in the field of the Sea and the Atmosphere, ensuring the implementation of national policies and policies in its areas of activity, contributing to economic and social development. IPMA develops its attributions in permanent interaction with the various economic sectors, those related to the uses of the Sea, namely fishing, aquaculture, biotechnology, manufacturing and distribution and industrial mining.