Eventhough the NIO headquarters is situated in Bombay, it required regional centres along the Indian Ocean coastline for conducting far more comprehensive research along a wider area. Under the International Indian Ocean Expedition, three centres/ programmes namely, Indian Ocean Biological Centre (IOBC), Indian Ocean Physical Oceanography Centre (IOPOC) and International Biology Program (IBP) were established at Cochin in 1962.(Which later paved the way for the NIO in Goa), and was merged into one institute(?)
