"Thank You Ocean," the California-wide ocean public awareness campaign, with the tagline "The ocean takes care of us. Let’s return the favor," was launched by the sanctuary system and the California Natural Resources Agency in 2006. Thank You Ocean reaches millions of citizens to help protect the ocean’s health and resources through its website, podcasts, print ads, radio and TV PSAs, and social networking.

The sanctuary system uses outreach programs to raise awareness of the values of sanctuary resources and ocean ecosystems. In 2011, sanctuary system news stories received more than eight hundred million impressions worth a conservative estimated advertising value of over $29 million. By the end of 2009, the sanctuary system website (launched in 1999) received its 10 millionth visitor. The website reaches a global audience telling the story of our nation’s sanctuaries and the work that continues to protect these special places. Launched also in 1999, Sanctuary Watch has delivered interesting stories, relevant news, and important messages from the sanctuary system to diverse audiences across the globe. Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary established the first fully sanctuary-sponsored Ocean Film Festival in the country in 2004 and inspired other ocean film festivals around the nation, including the Blue Ocean Film Festival, in Monterey, California.