The 'Friend of Integration' medal is awarded to individuals or institutions who work to support the disabled and are motivated not by the formal requirements of their position but by a desire to build social integration. The medal committee of the Friends of Integration Association (www.integracja.org) honored the Sea Fisheries Institute in Gdynia on November 8, 2007 with this medal for 'consistently working towards making the Gdynia Aquarium fully accessible to people with various types of disability.' The award celebration took place on December 1, 2007 at the Great Integration Gala organized to commemorate the International Day of Disabled Persons in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The director of the NMFRI accepted the medal from the President of Gdynia, Wojciech Szczurek, who is a member of the medal committee. The City of Gdynia was one of the first medal laureates for its program "Gdynia Without Barriers".