ABSTRACT
Ocean management demands of the future are going to require the efforts of a wide range of players representing different levels of government and diverse interest groups. This chapter argues that the agenda of state government in the US should be broadened to include ocean development and management initiatives. It describes why a federal-state partnership is needed and why the state's role must be enhanced to make the partnership a reality. The chapter presents suggested elements of state-level ocean initiatives, and suggests governmental mechanisms through which the initiatives may be launched. It deals with a discussion of how state-level action can help build national ocean policy. Most ocean statutes favor the federal side and fall short of the dialectical logic and institutional interdependence which should characterize the federal system. Ocean phenomena occurring in the Exclusive Economic Zone immediately adjacent to a state's boundary can be the subject of awareness-building and make the oceans more real to people.
