It provides the UK's main science capability in the field of marine mammal biology.
These include the European Union, Defra, Scottish Government and UK Ministry of Defence.
Notable SMRU Consulting projects includes Marine Mammal Mitigation on the world's first commercial tidal device at Strangford Loch[5] and the development of PAMBuoy, now Decimus - run by St Andrews Instrumentation Ltd.[6] On 1 June 2016, a dead Minke whale washed ashore on the West Sands beach of St Andrews, near to the SMRU, and was discovered by a dog walker that evening.
During low-tide on 2 June, staff and students from the SMRU, along with the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, jointly conducted a necropsy of the whale in view of the public.
Noting signature abrasions on the tailstock, and excessive fluid in the lungs, they concluded that the animal had been caught in a fishing trawler's lines, and was drowned by the dragging.