UCSC's partners in marine research include scientists from other educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and federal and state agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, National Marine Fisheries Service, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife. UCSC's marine science facilities and expertise have attracted other marine programs and scientists interested in cooperative research to the Santa Cruz area. There are now 23 major marine sciences institutions and facilities located on the shores of Monterey Bay, offering many opportunities for collaborative research.

Marine Wildlife Center, California Department of Fish & Wildlife

Since 1997, UCSC's coastal campus has been home to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife laboratory, the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center, where research on sea otters and their health is carried out in a joint effort with IMS scientists.

NOAA Fisheries Santa Cruz Laboratory

In 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) completed a new research laboratory on the UCSC coastal campus. The presence of over 100 federal scientists and staff has led to productive interactions and collaborations with UCSC marine biologists. NOAA Fisheries scientists at the Santa Cruz lab support graduate students, fund collaborative research, and share research facilities with IMS scientists.

USGS Coastal and Marine Science Center

Also located near Long Marine Lab is the U.S. Geological Survey's Coastal and Marine Science Center, with 85 employees. Collaborative research and a weekly joint seminar focus on areas such as coastal and nearshore processes, tsunamis, coastal hazards, human impacts on the coastal ocean, and seafloor imaging.

USGS-WERC Santa Cruz Field Station

The sea otter research group led by Jim Estes and Tim Tinker and based at Long Marine Lab is a UCSC-USGS cooperative unit, a field station of the USGS-Western Ecological Research Center with primary responsibility for conducting conservation-based research on threatened sea otter populations.

Tagging of Pacific Predators

Tagging of Pacific Predators began in 2000 as one of 17 projects of the Census of Marine Life. Managed by UCSC's Long Marine Lab, NOAA's Pacific Fisheries Ecosystems Lab, and Stanford's Hopkins Marine Lab, the TOPP program involves dozens of researchers from eight countries. Principal investigator Dan Costa and his team at UCSC tag and track marine mammals and seabirds throughout the Pacific Basin, learning about their physiology and ecology and discovering the secrets of the ocean's richest fisheries.

Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO)

PISCO is a long-term monitoring and research program designed to understand the dynamics of the coastal ocean ecosystem along the U.S. west coast. Established in 1999, PISCO is led by scientists from UC Santa Cruz (Mark Carr and Pete Raimondi), UC Santa Barbara, Oregon State University, and Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station.