532 



Section 6. Atjtomation of the Inventory 



The products of an inventory are neat^ well-organized tables, and 

 lists containing the information required m the subject area. The Na- 

 tional Estuarine Inventory, then, required a technique which could be 

 used to store, retrieve, and manipulate a wide variety of information 

 types to describe the dynamic conditions of the Nation's 884 ERA's. 

 The two prerequisites were huge capacity and great flexibility. To 

 satisfy these needs, all inventory data amenable to the technique are 

 automated. 



All of the automated information has been placed on magnetic tape, 

 including both numeric and narrative information. Retrieval is pos- 

 sible either by estuarine register area number (table VI. 1.5) or by the 

 individual descriptor itself (table VI. 1.6), making it possible to call 

 for any combination of descriptors for any combination of estuarine 

 register areas. 



Programing was also developed to secure printouts in a finished 

 format so that if necessary, printout from the inventory could be 

 photographed directly for inclusion in a report as a table (table VI.1.7) 

 or as computerized plots (figs. VI.1.3 and VI.1.4). Most of the tables 

 in this report were prepared in this fashion (table VI. 1.8). The capa- 

 bility for storing narrative information also increases the system's 

 usefulness as a respository for management information. 



Although much qualitative information is automated in the inven- 

 tory, some such information is not amenable to automation, or is less 

 expensive to compile by other methods into an equally useful form. 

 Specifics on current institutional arrangements and broad-scale de- 

 scriptive materials are examples. 



Access to the available information will be open to all Federal, State, 

 and local agencies through FWPCA. 



Table VI.1.5 

 Example of a Pabtlal BRA. Retrieval 



NOTES 



(1) The following five pages are from the Inventory's master file summary 

 tapes. The shortened titles and coded entries shown are used in the master only. 

 Full titles and code translations will be used in regional, State, or local level 

 retrievals. 



(2) The BRA presented, Bel River, Calif., is neither the most, nor the lea^ 

 complete. It is fairly typical of the smaller ERA's. 



(3) In addition to the BRA level data shown, other files contain information on 

 the land areas adjacent to the Eel River. These include populations, employment 

 statistics, industrial locations, and so forth, as well as offshore oceanographic and 

 fisheries data. 



(4) The pages shown were chosen to illustrate the manner of organiztion 

 rather than to provide data. 



( 5 ) The information contained in the Inventory files is that gathered to pirovide 

 quantitative information for the national estuarine pollution study. 



