BCO-DMO, located at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is a combination of the formerly independent Data Management Offices formed in support of the US JGOFS and US GLOBEC programs. The BCO-DMO staff members are the curators of the data collections created by those respective programs, as well as data from more recent NSF Geosciences Directorate (GEO) Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections, Division of Polar Programs (PLR) Antarctic Sciences (ANT) Organisms & Ecosystems, and Arctic Sciences (ARC) awards. The BCO-DMO project is funded by NSF OCE and ANT programs, NSF award number OCE-1435578.

The DORIS programme (Data from Observations for the Recognition and Identification of Underwater Fauna and Flora) relies primarily on the network of divers from the Biology and Underwater Environment Commissions coordinated by the CNEBS of the FFESSM (French Federation of Underwater Studies and Sports).