The California Seamount Coalition was founded in 2015 to support the scientific understanding, public awareness, and protection for the 63 seamounts off the coast of California. The coalition is comprised of 18 nonprofits and businesses with a shared vision for creating a network of marine protected areas to safeguard seamounts, ridges, and banks in federal waters off the California coast.

Coalition founder Lance Morgan, President of Marine Conservation Institute, says "Californians love and celebrate their coast. Just as we protect the special mountain environments of the Rockies and the Sierras… Just as we have created parks to protect Yosemite Valley, and Giant Redwoods, we must act to protect the great mountains underneath the surface of the ocean and the coral forests that live on them. The ocean and its life – whether we can see it from the beach or not – is a wonderful creation, and it is our responsibility to be a good steward and protect those things we have been given."