The CMA Pilot Project began as a joint initiative of 9 countries in the Caribbean region including Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The purpose of the CMA is to identify, collect and organize available geo-spatial datasets into an atlas of environmental themes for the Caribbean region as a support service to the sustainable development and integrated management of marine and coastal areas in the region.

The project is supported by the participating countries, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC) through the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) , and the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium).

The Caribbean Marine Atlas is an activity developed within the framework of the Ocean Data and Information Network for the Caribbean and South America region (ODINCARSA).