The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is committed to creating innovative partnerships to ensure that the public understands the need to preserve and protect the unique ecological and cultural resources found in the National Marine Sanctuary System. The results of these partnerships will help ensure that coral reefs thrive, kelp forests are abundant and all marine life flourishes. The following corporate and federal partners help the foundation create meaningful opportunities for public interaction with the nation’s marine sanctuaries; thus, ensuring good ocean stewardship and education.

The Foundation is a steering member organization of the Friends of NOAA, which is a group comprised of supporters, stakeholders and partners of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and exists to encourage Congress to provide appropriate support for the agency as it carries out its mission of saving lives and livelihoods. The group also seeks gain more support for NOAA within the Executive Branch, especially in regards to the budget process. Find out more about the coalition here.

Recognizing the vital need and benefit of working with the dive industry to support conservation efforts, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is proud to be partnering with the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA) in support of its “Be A Diver” campaign. The “Be A Diver” campaign seeks to encourage people to become divers, and to experience all the wonders of a world under water. The Foundation seeks to inspire people to preserve, protect, and promote our nationwide network of marine sanctuaries – our underwater national parks protected by Congress. These sanctuaries comprise some of the nation’s best dive spots, teeming with natural and cultural treasures, such as coral reefs, kelp forests, and shipwrecks. By joining forces, the Foundation and DEMA hope to promote a shared message to encourage diving, and to ensure the preservation and protection our nation’s underwater treasures for the diving community, present and future.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation has partnered with OceansForMe.com, the world’s first and only ocean registry that allows users to actually purchase their own virtual ocean parcel, identifiable by GPS coordinates, and explore the ocean on an interactive map. For every parcel registered within a National Marine Sanctuary, OceansForMe will donate a portion of the gross receipts to the NMSF to support the Foundation’s ongoing marine conservation efforts focused on education and research programs.

Recognizing the need to better educate and inform the public about the National Marine Sanctuary System, the National Marine Sanctuary Program and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation seek out appropriate partnerships with individuals and groups to leverage their collective abilities to preserve and protect these underwater treasures. In their efforts to support and further the goals of the National Marine Sanctuary System, NMSP and NMSF share a mutual interest in creating conservation-based research, education, and outreach programs designed to connect the public with the mission of the sanctuary system and the importance of conserving the marine resources contained within each of the 14 sites within the system.

Santa Cruz Sea Glass uses authentic sea glass handpicked within the Monterey Bay Sanctuary to create one-of-a-kind sea glass jewelry. Every piece is found by them and is 100% natural, not altered or artificially tumbled in any way. They strive to make high quality, hand-forged sterling silver jewelry that reflects the organic beauty of pure, natural sea glass. Their efforts to maintain a Green company extend into every level of their business; from collecting excess trash on the beach, being a steward for ocean preservation, to choosing recycled USA sourced silver. In keeping with their desire to conserve our oceans, they became an official donation partner of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in 2008. As a Foundation partner, they donate directly back into the building of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz, California.

The Oceans Awareness Campaign was created in partnership with these organizations. A special thanks to the Disney Company for providing the Little Mermaid characters and creative work for this effort.