Following the recommendations of the House of Lords Select Committee and the report of the Natural Environment Research Council Visiting Group to the Laboratory in 1986, negotiations were undertaken between representatives of the Councils of the Association and the NERC to consider future arrangements for marine science in Plymouth. The President led a negotiating group acting on behalf of Council which included Sir John Gray, Prof. Anne Warner, Dr Eric Corner and Dr Michael Whitfield. After extensive consultations with the staff of the Laboratory and the membership of the Association, an agreement was signed by the President and by Mr Hugh Fish, Chairman of NERC on 12 January. As a result of the agreement the laboratories of the Association and of the Institute for Marine Environmental Research merged on 1 April 1988 to form the Plymouth Marine Laboratory.