Keys Marine Laboratory About KML

The Keys Marine Laboratory (KML), located in the City of Layton on Long Key, Florida, is operated jointly by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), a unit of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), a consortium under the State University System (SUS). The KML was established as a full service marine research and education center serving undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and researchers from the state, national and international scientific communities.The KML, through FIO, is a member of the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), Southern Association of Marine Laboratories (SAML), and the Association of Marine
Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC). Situated near the midpoint of the Florida Keys island chain, the facility is a unique base of operations for researchers studying the only tropical marine ecosystems in the continental United States. The laboratory includes dormitories, laboratories, classroom/meeting rooms, flow-through seawater systems, boat fleet, and diving support facilities.
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KML was originally built as a public attraction and research center by Sea World of Florida, Inc. in 1978. Proving unprofitable as a public attraction, Sea World closed the facility to the public in 1982, but retained the property to accommodate the company’s internal research and animal husbandry activities. In July, 1983, the State University System of Florida (SUS) entered into a cooperative agreement with Sea World to use the facility for research and education programs for Florida’s state universities. In addition, scientists from other states were encouraged to use the facility, and many became regular users.

This relationship continued until 1986 when Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, Inc., the parent company of Sea World, determined that the property had to be liquidated. Based on its academic interests and involvement in the property, the FIO surveyed the research and education community statewide and concluded that there was a substantial user community dependent on the continued availability of KML for a variety of research and academic programs. In addition, a broader regional survey suggested a much larger potential user community existed for a “full service” marine laboratory located in the continentally unique ecosystems of south Florida, Florida Bay, and the Florida Keys chain. This potential as an important research and education resource for a national constituency, as well as the documented state user constituency, was dependent on stabilization of the laboratory’s status through State purchase which would secure the property and allow for long-term research planning and execution.

A coalition was forged between the SUS and FWC to jointly own and operate the KML as a combined state-owned research and education facility, thereby justifying the substantial capital outlay required. The State of Florida completed purchase of the facility in August 1990, and the SUS entered into a formal interagency agreement with the FWC to operate the facility under joint jurisdiction of the FIO and the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), formerly the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). The Keys Marine Laboratory was dedicated and commenced its official joint state agency operations on February 1, 1991.

Under the state interagency agreement, the FIO continues in its role of facility management and administration, and is the coordinating entity for regional, national, and international user scientists on behalf of the State of Florida. This unusual interagency arrangement has been beneficial to both agencies, and offers some distinct advantages to the user community in pairing the flexibility and academic strengths of the SUS with the stable resources and long-term staffing continuity of the FWC. The goal of both agencies is to provide a full service facility to support research and education programs in south Florida and the Florida Keys region.