In 2002, scientists from west coast academic institutions, foundations and agencies participated in an Alliance for California Current Ecosystem Observation (ACCEO), a series of community meetings held in Monterey California, Seattle Washington, and Portland Oregon. The goal was to determine how best to develop a practical backbone of physical and biological marine-observation that would support management of natural resources and assessment of the effects of climate variability on California Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

In 2003 the ACCEO concept was broadened, renamed, and selected as the NOAA west coast contribution to the national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The new name was Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System (PaCOOS). The goal of PaCOOS is to provide the ocean information needed for the sustained use of fishery resources and protection of marine species and their ecosystem under a changing climate. This plan is based on the results of first planning meeting held in July 2003 in La Jolla and a science planning meeting held in Seattle in September 2003.

Since 2004, the Board of Governors has met regularly, PaCOOS agenda & meeting summary can be found under the meetings tab.