Supporting one of the world's most diverse marine ecosystems, it is home to numerous mammals, seabirds, fishes, invertebrates and algae in a remarkably productive coastal environment.

[6] The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center opened on July 23, 2012[7] at 35 Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, California.

MBNMS collaborations include: A Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary event calendar on its website lists advisory council meetings and volunteer opportunities such as Snapshot Day and First Flush (water quality monitoring programs), as well as Bay Net and Team OCEAN (naturalist programs).

In 2012, this information was released as an iOS app called SeaPhoto to allow users access to over 5,000 photos of local marine life.

However, public hearings, with the memory of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, brought protests demanding a larger size.

In 1982, United States Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt proposed opening the outer continental shelf off the Central Coast of California to oil and gas exploration.

[16] In 1990, President George H. W. Bush used an obscure 1953 law to permanently ban oil and gas development in Monterey Bay.

In late December 2016, President Barack Obama used the same law to ban oil exploration from Hearst Castle to Point Arena in Mendocino County, California.

[17] In July 2017, under the direction of Executive Order 13795[18] from President Donald Trump, the United States Department of Commerce began re-evaluating the protected status of the sanctuary, which includes the Davidson Seamount off the coast of Big Sur.