The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It carries out a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities for a large number of customers around the world. Cefas employs over 550 staff based primarily at two specialist laboratories within the UK, with additional staff based at small, port-based offices in Scarborough, Hayle, and Plymouth. In 2014 Cefas established a permanent base in the Middle East by opening an office in Kuwait, and since opened an office in Oman. They also operate an ocean-going research vessel Cefas Endeavour. Customers The primary customer for Cefas is their parent organisation Defra. They also undertake work for international and UK government departments (central and local), the World Bank, the European Commission, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), commercial organisations, non-governmental and environmental organisations, regulators and enforcement agencies, local authorities and other public bodies. There is an increasing focus on commercial research and consultancy as the level of funding available from Defra gradually reduces. History Known previously as the Directorate of Fisheries Research, the name and status was changed in 1997 to 'Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science' (Cefas). At this time it became an Executive Agency of what was then the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) and is now the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Lowestoft laboratory In 1902, the Marine Biological Association opened a sub-station in Pakefield a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk to research the Fishing industry. This was part of the UK contribution to the newly created International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). By 1921 the station had been expanded to include a laboratory with experimental facilities. Early research was focused on aspects of the marine biology of the North Sea. During the 1920s and 1930s biological studies expanded, the theory of fishing was developed and forecasting fish stocks became routine. In 1927–1928 Michael Graham was dispatched from the Lowestoft laboratory by the Colonial Office and conducted the first ever systematic Fisheries Survey of Lake Victoria. After the second world war, radiobiological facilities were installed to advise on the safe disposal of radioactive substances at sea. Research aboard the newly acquired Arctic-going Research Vessel Ernest Holt established an important link between fishable cod concentrations and water temperatures and