On the ocean side of 276 miles of coastline from southern Marin County to northern San Luis Obispo County is a spectacular underwater world that few of us get to visit, even though its health benefits us all.

It’s a biologically rich corner of the complex ocean that covers about 70% of earth’s surface, provides half the oxygen we breathe, is a highway for the world economy, influences our weather, absorbs excess carbon from the atmosphere, provides food and hosts great biodiversity.

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects 6,094 square miles of water through research, resource protection, and public education and outreach. It was designated in 1992 in part in response to the threat of offshore oil development in federal waters off Central California, but we also got a bonus.

The sanctuary’s small team works with partners to study and steward habitats and their web of life found in the two-and one-half mile deep Monterey Bay submarine canyon, the 7,500-foot-high Davidson Seamount that is 4,100 feet below the ocean’s surface, a colony of brooding octopuses two miles deep, as well as an array of habitats including our kelp forests which host the California sea otter.

By working with other science and ocean institutions, our federal dollars get matched, effectively using our taxpayer funds.

Work that the sanctuary’s staff and volunteers undertake include vessel incidents, deep-sea corals, marine debris, whale rescue, and water quality.

They run visitor centers including San Simeon’s Coastal Discovery Center and Santa Cruz’ Sanctuary Exploration Center which hosts 60,000 visitors per year including students from low-income schools on field trips.

The sanctuary supports the area economy and jobs including those in tourism, which in Monterey and Santa Cruz County alone generates $4.4 billion in annual revenue.

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is one of 18 — including six on the West Coast — and two marine national monuments that cover 629,000 square miles of water, all of which are managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They have popular support as indicated by a 2022 poll commissioned by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation found that 80% of Americans support protecting marine areas with environmental, cultural or educational importance.

For the federal budget year starting October 1, 2025, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation urges Congress to support the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at no less than $115 million to continue its vital work.

There is hope, since a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators and representatives has advocated for the vital work of national marine sanctuaries.

There’s a way to go; a 2021 report by the National Academy of Public Administration finds that while historically under-funded national parks have received $30 per acre, national marine sanctuaries have received only 14 cents per acre.

The deadline is tonight (May 20) to contact your local representative in Congress in support of adequate funding for national marine sanctuaries, visit marinesanctuary.org.

It only takes a few minutes, but it’s well worth it.

Former Save Our Shores and O’Neill Sea Odyssey director Dan Haifley serves on the board of the Monterey Bay Chapter of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and can be reached at dan.haifley@gmail.com.