VI-91 



In order to serve its purpose as a management tool, this data base 

 must satisfy five broad requirements. These requirements are: 

 (1) baseline knowledge of biological, physical, and chemical data 

 describing the estuarine zone, (2) knowledge of the institutional 

 framework governing each portion of the estuarine zone, (3) knowledge 

 of the demographic, social, and economic factors and their trends 

 affecting the estuarine zone, (4) an establishment of goals and uses 

 so that future studies can be relevantly oriented, and (5) an augmen- 

 tation and synthesis of the previous four adequate to permit estua- 

 rine management. The next portion of this Section will discuss each 

 of these requirements in greater detail. 



THE NEED FOR BASELINE STUDIES OF BIOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, 

 AND CHEMICAL FACTORS DESCRIBING THE ESTUARINE ZONE 



The need for baseline studies is so basic and so obvious that it 

 frequently is overlooked. Simply stated, a physical, chemical, and 

 -biological inventory must be conducted of all important estuaries and 

 as many as possible of those of lesser importance. The purpose of 

 such inventories would be to establish conditions as they are now; a 

 baseline against which to determine the nature, extent, and rate of 

 any future change. Research programs ensuing from this information 

 would be addressed tov,ard two basic questions: (1) what forces and 

 combination of factors made each estuary the way it is, and (2) what 

 must be done to make (or keeD)each estuary the way we want it to be. 



