CMLRE, Cochin under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India has been organizing, coordinating and promoting ocean development activities in the country which inter-alia include mapping of the living resources, preparing inventory of commercially exploitable living marine resources, their optimum utilization through ecosystem management and R&D in basic sciences on Marine Living Resources and Ecology. The Marine Living Resources Programme envisages survey, assessment and exploitation of the MLR and studies on the response of MLR to changes in the physical environment with the objective of developing an ecosystem model for the management of the living resources in the Indian EEZ. The Fishery Oceanographic Vessel (FORV) Sagar Sampada is fully utilized for these studies. On-going MLR surveys in the EEZ focus on deep sea fishery, Tuna-resources, harmful algal blooms, Bioluminescent planktons, marine mammals, environment and the productivity patterns. These efforts are complimented through allied activities under MLR namely studies on the benthos of the continental slope area, studies on biodiversity of planktons in Andaman sea, studies on the near-shore dynamics with special reference to upwelling and mud-banks, application-oriented R&D on production of pearls from the black-lip pearl oyster, development of antifouling compounds from the marine organisms, modelling efforts and maintenance of a Data & Referral Centre on FORV collections.