As a result of the University of Florida's assimilation of the University of Miami Marine Laboratory Collection of Fishes (UMML) during the period 1995-2000, already limited space was quickly overwhelmed to the point of many thousands of specimens being displaced to temporary storage areas. The unfortunate outcome of these events has been greatly reduced access to these displaced specimens, which include both UF cataloged and uncataloged lots in addition to still other recently adopted orphaned collections.

In concert with long anticipated changes in space distribution within Dickinson Hall, NSF funding of the proposal "Improvements to the Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyological Collection" has provided a near doubling of range and laboratory space. The November 2002 - January 2003 installation of a high-density storage system in the 2808 sq. ft. area directly adjacent to the existing compactor system translates to 5733 sq. ft. of range space and approximately 23,200 sq. ft. of specimen shelving. Additional improvements include the creation of a small room for the growing collection of UF type specimens and a limited amount of space dedicated to housing larger fishes.

Redistribution of all materials into the unified high-density storage systems, both existing and new, was completed in June 2003.