VI-19 



SECTION 4. PRESENT STATUS OF THE INVENTORY 



Presently, the Inventory consists of some 150 magnetic tapes of data 

 containing more than 200 million individual pieces of information; 

 several voluminous compilations of information not amenable to auto- 

 mation; hundreds of charts, maps, papers, books, and files; the 

 complete coastline of the conterminous United States on microfilm; 

 several thousand index cards containing a detailed bibliography; and 

 considerable documentation ranging from sten-by-step instructions for 

 coding each column of each data card to multi -volume reoorts on 

 sedimentation and ecology. It is unfortunate that the above represents 

 complete and detailed information on no single estuary or estuarine 

 zone in the United States. In a few cases only one or two crucial 

 sections may be missing, but for the remainder there are large know- 

 ledge gaps which will be discussed in Chapter 2 of this Part. 

 Overall, probably only about one-third to one-half of the existing 

 pertinent information is stored in the Inventory data bank. 



In compiling the mass of data mentioned above, pure research was 

 found to be rare. The availability of data depends on there having 

 been a sound economic reason for its collection. Among Federal or 

 State agencies, for example, data is gathered as a matter of agency 

 mission and is usually readily available; i.e., the Bureau of Census 

 and the Office of Business Economics function as data-qatherers 

 and can provide nationwide information as a matter of course. 



