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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed |
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| Headquarters | Somerset Street, Makhanda, 33°18.593′S26°31.152′E / 33.309883°S 26.519200°E /-33.309883; 26.519200 |
| Parent department | Department of Science and Innovation |
| Parent agency | National Research Foundation |
| Website | https://saiab.ac.za |
TheSouth African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), is involved in research, education and in applications of its knowledge and research to African fish fauna, for either economic or conservation benefit.
The institute originally established in 1969, was formerly named theJLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology, in honour of ProfessorJames Leonard Brierley Smith, who named and described the living coelacanthLatimeria chalumnae. The JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology received recognition as a national research entity, renamed as the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity in 1999.[1]
Situated inMakhanda, Eastern Cape, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) is an internationally recognised centre for the study of aquaticbiodiversity.
As a National Facility of theNRF, SAIAB serves as a major scientific resource for knowledge and understanding the biodiversity and functioning of globally significant aquatic ecosystems. With both marine and freshwater biogeographical boundaries, southern Africa is ideally placed to monitor and document climate change.
From amarine perspective South Africa forms the southern apex of a major continental mass, flanked by very differentmarine ecosystems on the east and west coasts, and projecting towards the cold southern Ocean large marine ecosystem. SAIAB's scientific leadership and expertise infreshwater aquatic biodiversity is vital to the national interest when dealing with issues arising from exponentially increasing pressures of human population growth and development.
SAIAB is home to theMargaret Smith Library, named in honour of the first Director of theJLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology[2][3]