528 



was substituted. In other oases no alternate descriptor could be 

 selected. Table VI. 1.4 lists these and contains comments on impact of 

 their loss on management planning. 



In summary, some data are available but have never been compiled ; 

 some data are available but will never be released ; some data are avail- 

 able in massive quantities but have never been extracted; and other 

 data have never been taken at all. Numerous examples of each kind 

 were encountered. Where sufficient data were not available to describe 

 an estuarine attribute adequately, alternative data were gathered and 

 analyzed. 



TABLE IV.IA— MISSING DESCRIPTORS AND THEIR IMPACT 



Inventory section 



Descriptor and status 



Impact on NEPS 



Sec. 2— Area description. 



Sec. 3— Managing entities. 



Sec. 3— Zoning or regional 

 development. 



Fills (in most cases, only esti- 

 mates by Bureau of Sport 

 Fisheries and Wildlife and 

 others, plus measurements of 

 spoil areas from Coast & 

 Geodetic Survey charts, are 

 available). 



Legally ov/ned facilities and re- 

 served zones (not generally 

 available below Federal level). 



Zoning or regional development 

 (the names of responsible 

 groups are available; however, 

 little information relating to ac- 

 tual estuarine planning has been 

 located). 



Sec. 6— Physical oceanography. Currents and current speeds 



Sec. 8— Pediments and sedi- Sediment quantities and charac- 

 mentation. teristics (with the exception of a 



few case studies almost no in- 

 formation is available). 



Alteration is not necessarily synonymous with 

 destruction. Exact fill data on a variety of types 

 of estuarine systems would allow evaluation of 

 the destructive or constructive values of various 

 schemes for filling. 



A comprehensive management plan for a single 

 estuary or for the complete national coastline 

 must consider all the existing management 

 entities. Without this data the minute specifics 

 of a management plan are impossible to delineate. 



A national plan should not conflict with a workable 

 regional, State, or local plan. Fuller knowledge of 

 existing planning organizations could allow fuller 

 Federal/state/local cooperation through existing 

 groups (whether currently engaged in estuarine 

 planning or not) without the necessity of estab- 

 lishing another level in the hierarchy. 



These are the major indicators of rates of flushing 

 of pollutants. 



Through fuller knowledge of sediment amounts and 

 their effects, specific and positive actions could 

 be suggested to alleviate many problems by 

 existing interested entities; i.e., the Soil Conser- 

 vation Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

 etc. 



Section 5. Problems and Solutions 



Because no section in the inventory contains all of the data deemed 

 necessary, there follows a brief discussion of each inventory section 

 in which major problems were encountered and the measures taken to 

 overcome them. The results of these actions are reflected primarily in 

 this report and not in the data entries of the inventory. 



Hamdbook Section 2. Area description 



Problem : Many of the necessary data are implicit on available maps 

 and charts, but very few measurements of estuaries and their associ- 

 ated marshes and tidelands have never been extracted or organized. 

 Not even the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which performs, or issues 

 permits for, most of the dredging in the Nation, was able to provide 

 information on spoil areas and fills therein. No consistent data were 

 available on landfills of any kind, whether industrial, residential, or 

 sanitary. 



Solution : Using U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey navigation charts 

 and a 1840 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey of tidal shoreline meas- 



