ABSTRACT
As far as the history of ocean management is concerned, Vallejo stresses [ibid. 208-209] that the first “development of a conceptual, institutional and legislative base” is due to the 1969 Stratton Commission Report. As for policy the first step consisted of the 1972 US National Marine Sanctuary Program. As can be seen, this program was established in the same year in which the US Coastal Zone Management Act entered into force. Nevertheless these events are very different from each other in relation to the content of management: the Coastal Zone Management Act was the initial step in the creation of comprehensive coastal management, which would have taken shape in the 1980s; the National Marine Sanctuary Program was sectoral. Considering the list of events upon which Vallejo's analysis is based it is difficult to say when ocean management emerged in policy and law: perhaps UNEP's Blue Plan (1984) for the Mediterranean Sea and the State of Hawaii Ocean Management Plan (1985) can be recorded as landmarks (Figure 9.1).
