544 



serve a different purpose, that of estuarine management. What this 

 means in the practical sense, is that the generalized inventory system 

 draws on the detailed data sysitems for part of its supply of raw en- 

 vironmental data input. The intermeshing of these four systems will 

 be discussed in chapter 2 of this part. 



A management information system is of negligible value unless it 

 is used by the management and planning groups it is intended to 

 serve. It is anticipated that these will be primarily on the State level, 

 so a major first step is to develop a working relationship in order to 

 determine how State agencies can most effectively use the system in 

 contributing and withdrawing data from it. A pilot study for this 

 purpose is being carried out with the State of South Carolina. Present 

 indications are that a successful and mutually satisfactory arrange- 

 ment can be developed for continuing application. 



Universities and private organizations can also make use of the in- 

 formation contained in such a management information sj^stem by 

 working either through their respective State agencies or directly with 

 the Department of the Interior. 



The development of the inventory into a continuing management 

 information system must be accompanied by an aggressive program 

 of assistance to user groups, both in learning about the information 

 available and in making use of it. This can be accomplished through 

 personal contact, aggressive public service, and demonstrations of 

 how the information can be used to help solve actual problems. 



A management information system such as described here would 

 need to acquire data on some regular basis from many Federal and 

 State agencies. Much of the information to be collected on the Federal 

 level will come from agencies of the Department of the Interior ; so it 

 would be logical that this system should be a department>al one. 



A management information system is necessary to the timely and 

 efficient implementation of a comprehensive national program of estu- 

 arine management and the first steps toward establishment of such a 

 system have been taken as part of the national estuarine pollution 

 study. 



Section 8. Summary 



The inventory is designed to serve management by providing infor- 

 mation over the wide range of subject areas required for satisfactory 

 management perspective, whereas indepth data on individual subjects 

 is the focus of most other information systems. 



It began as a means to organize and coordinate the great variety 

 and volume of available information pertinent to estuarine manage- 

 ment. As the program of data gathering and analysis progressed, large 

 data gaps began to appear, and it became apparent that the inventory 

 would be valuable not only as a source of data but also as a delineator 

 of data needs. 



These needs fall into two categories : that for data which exist and 

 are available though widely scattered, and that for information which 

 has never been developed. Sources to fill the first need have been located 

 and must be tapped and a consistent program of data gathering must 

 be developed to fill the second need. 



