This document discusses open data and the process of archiving, documenting, quality checking, integrating, publishing, and redistributing data. It describes how data is archived at the Marine Data Archive and documented with metadata. Quality control ensures data is correctly interpreted and usable. Data is integrated and published through the Integrated Marine Information System with discovery metadata. A data policy advocates open data exchange and making data publicly available while recognizing the original source. The main challenges are convincing scientists to openly share data and having no mandates for participation.