VI-68 



SECTION 3. PROGRAM DEFINITION 



Table VI. 2.1 summarizes the important information lacks found during 

 the initial compilation of the i'Jational Estuarine Inventory, and out- 

 lines briefly the means by which to acquire each kind of information. 



The foregoing discussions showed that the major kinds of available 

 management information can be grouped into two broad categories: 

 that information which has never been collected, and that information 

 which has been collected but not published or released in a usable 

 form. 



on 



on 



There is a need, therefore, for an overall basic data coUecti 

 program including a nationwide system of routine field data collecti 

 and estuarine water quality, pollution source, and ecological monitor 

 ing as well as a system for the collection of "gray" data. As 

 corollarys to these, however, there must be a means for handling, 

 using, and disseminating the information being collected, and there 

 must be a means for advancing the state of knowledge to increase 

 management capability. 



The need in the estuarine zone is not for three separate programs, 

 but for one integrated program with the three facets outlined above. 

 Such a program must also recognize and cope with the realities of 



