The Stanisław Sakowicz Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn conducts a wide variety of research and publishing activities which aim to disseminate information about and popularize fisheries. The scientific disciplines pursued at the Institute are integral to this field's body of knowledge and include specializations such as ichthyobiology, limnology, aquatic ecology, hydrobiology, veterinary sciences, and economics.
The Institute was honored in 2003 with the Michał Oczapowski Medal for significant contributions to the agricultural sciences by the Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Veterinarian Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences.
The Inland Fisheries Institute was founded on January 1, 1951, and it assumed the name of its founder, Professor Stanisław Sakowicz, in 1987. The Institute is a research and development facility that is subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The mission of the Institute is to perform research and disseminate research results in the field of inland fisheries. The Institute meets this obligation through the following:
- conducting theoretical research and applied scientific studies;
- improving the knowledge of scientific and fisheries personnel through education;
- conducting studies and writing expert opinions and evaluations;
- disseminating research results through, among other outlets, informational activities, publishing, and consultation and training;
- scientific co-operation with Polish and foreign organizations;
- co-operating with administrative and management institutions.
The Institute offers a wide range of services, including:
- evaluating comprehensive fisheries assessments, loan applications, water rights permit applications;
- writing expert opinions and evaluations of inland fisheries management and appraising liabilities related to fisheries;
- fish rearing facility design consultation;
- production and distribution of selective breeding material and stocking material of chosen fish species;
- diagnosis and treatment of fish diseases;
- publishing and distributing information (scientific journals, mass media magazines, brochures, books, folders, etc).
The Institute is comprised of several units, which include departments, workshops, and sections, that conduct scientific research and services within the fields of:
- natural foundations for optimizing initial and early rearing of fish and crayfish;
- fish health prophylactics;
- fishing techniques;
- fisheries management;
- experimental fisheries;
- promoting advances in fisheries.
Research facilities are located in Olsztyn, Żabieniec near Warsaw, Giżycko, Gdańsk, and Rutki near Gdańsk. Experimental hatcheries are located in Żabieniec and Zator near Cracow.
The scientific council of the Institute is accredited to award the degrees of doctor and doctor habilitowane, the Polish post-doctoral degree.
Since its inception over a half century ago, the Institutes's team of scientists and technicians have made significant contributions to the development of fisheries science and practice.
Examples include:
- developing highly effective technologies for producing stocking material from numerous fish species;
- developing breeding methods on a commercial scale for acipenserid species;
- introducing into production trout strains with various spawning terms to increase fish production severalfold;
- long-term management and exploitation projects in over 3,000 lakes, which in addition to immediate advantages, has enabled the compilation of a rich archive of wide-ranging information that is accessed by scientific, management, administrative and other institutions
- the several decades of interdisciplinary research of the heated Konin lakes system is a globally unique scientific study site.
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of IFI, the Professor Stanisław Korwin-Sakowicz Medal was created. Bearing the name of the Institutes's founder and director of many years, the medal is awarded to recognize and honor scientific, organizational, and management achievements in the field of fisheries. The medal is awarded to individuals, institutes or associations by the medal committee nominated by the director of the Institute for the length of the IFI Scientific Council term.