MAREC is a business unit in NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS for commercialization of new software for marine acoustics data. MAREC offer sale, support, maintenance and training of LSSS and related products. The LSSS software is developed in close collaboration between two research institutes in Bergen, Norway. The development of LSSS started in 2002 in a collaboration between the Institute of Marine Research and Christian Michelsen Research (CMR).

NORCE is one of Norway's largest independent research institutes with around 900 employees. NORCE was founded on 3 July 2017 and have brought together several research companies and their subsidiaries across Norway. CMR, a former independent Norwegian technical contract research institute, was business transferred into NORCE in December 2018.

The vision for MAREC is to reach "holistic understanding of marine ecosystems". To date, it is possible to get partial information about some marine species from acoustic data. In the future, holistic understanding of marine ecosystems will be essential in order to achieve sustainable management and harvesting of marine resources. New innovative software, taking full advantage of modern echosounders and sonars, is the key to fulfill this vision.

The mission for MAREC is to provide leading software for authorities, universities, and commercial companies having needs related to marine resource management and harvesting.

MAREC has been established with a long-term perspective. In the current phase of the project, it will be staffed with part-time coordinators from the supporting organizations, IMR and NORCE. The coordinators will then pull in resources according to needs and funding. By working in this manner, MAREC will be able to operate at low risk and low cost, and the user community will know that research institutions with a long track record will stay behind MAREC products for a long time.