(3) Bibliographic and documentation information; 



(4) Program management and budget information; and 



(5) Statistical, economic and demographic information concerning 

 man's oceanic activities. 



The ability of a potential user to be able quickly to gather large quantities 

 of information for a specific area in a usable form represents one of the 

 most important functions of a well-managed data system. Table X-1 indi- 

 cates the problem faced by a data product customer in search of compre- 

 hensive information. Eighteen separate national and agency repositories 

 exist which contain 61 individual data bases covering various aspects of 

 oceanographic, estuarine, and limnologic information. However, the exis- 

 tence of particular products or a number of producing agencies does not 

 insure that desired, usable environmental data will be available for any 

 one region. 



The process of sorting and integrating information from surveys, research 

 cruises, random ship reports, and operational information from our mer- 

 chant and military fleets, is continuous at Federal data repositories and 

 producing agencies. However, synthesis of marine environmental data is 

 not complete and the degree to which it must be integrated has not yet 

 been determined. The lack of large blocks of highly correlated information 

 is a particular source of concern to State and local groups, since such infor- 

 mation is an important requirement in efTective planning for the rational 

 use of marine resources, especially in coastal areas. U.S. data networks 

 should be flexible enough to accommodate not only specific research and 

 operational requirements but the increased number of users who need 

 comprehensive information. 



Problems associated with marine environmental data include — 



( 1 ) Incomplete identification of the multiple purposes and technical 

 requirements of data collection; 



(2) Excessive delays in the "data transmission" system, especially 

 those between collection and availability of data to the marine com- 

 munity as a whole ; 



(3) InefRcient data collection and handling methods; 



(4) Lack of agreement on data handling procedures and standards, 

 which seriously limit data flow among marine science organizations ; 



(5) Inadequate correlation of data in space and time and lack of 

 selective data retrieval by geographic area, depth or other criteria; 



(6) Impending rapid growth in data collection volume arising from 

 expanded airborne, space borne, and surface collection systems with 

 the inevitable impact on the existing overloaded data management 

 system ; 



( 7 ) The ever- widening gap between the actual state of marine data 

 management activities and the potential activities made possible by 

 technological developments in information handling; and 



(8) Lack of a coordinated system of data management from point of 

 collection to ultimate use. 



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