1-in 



agencies in collectim information, and other Federal anencies 

 provided information collected by or through then. Son? ?2 

 contracts were negotiated to obtain particular types of informa- 

 tion and to prepare case studies of specific estuarine systems. 

 To organize and coordinate the vast amount of quantitative infor- 

 mation, an automated information storace and retrieval system, 

 tne 'National Estuarine Inventory, was developed. The list of 

 information to be included in thp Inventory was developed with 

 the cooperation of all Department of the Interior ayencies and 

 represents a consensus of what the Department reqards as the 

 basic information necessary for effective estuarine management. 



The recommended national management program (Part III), prob- 

 ably the sinnle most important result of the study, was reviewed 

 at two stages by the coastal States and all concerned ^gieral 

 agencies. The Department of Interior anencies have reviewed 

 not only the recommended program, but also the discussions of 

 supporting material leading to thp recommended national Droqram. 

 (Parts II, IV, V, and VI). 



ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT 



The report is organized to ooint out the relationship of the 

 biophysical, socio-economic, and institutional environments 



