The mission of the UCN Faculty of Marine Sciences is to create, cultivate and disseminate the generation of new knowledge of the forms, functions and processes of the marine environment and its products, and to achieve a harmonization among the human activities related to the conservation and preservation of the environment and the sustainable use of the environment and its resources. It is home to the Departments of Aquaculture, Marine Biology and the School of Risk Prevention and Environment.

It also includes associated researchers from the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones and the Center for Research and Technological Development in Algae of the Universidad Católica del Norte.