551 



published material but requires particular skill or effort to extract it. 

 For example, the areas and volumes of all estuarine systems in the 

 United States can be extracted from available navigation or topo- 

 graphic charts if someone will painstakingly measure the areas at dif- 

 ferent depth contours. 



All of these data sources have one thing in common — the available 

 information is difficult to find or extract, prohibitively so for the 

 limited studies characteristic of the historical approach toward study- 

 ing the estuarine environment. A much broader approach toward 

 collecting such information, implemented as part of a national pro- 

 gram, would achieve economy of scale and efficiency in operation by 

 developing and applying the overall expertise as a centralized function. 



Not all information existing in the "gray" data is pertinent and 

 valuable for estuarine management. Examples of the knids of perti- 

 nent information which exist primarily as "gray" data may be sum- 

 marized according to their categories in the "Handbook of Descrip- 

 tions" of the National Estuarine Inventory. 



MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY IDENTIITCATION 



Part V of this report deals with Government entities and their in- 

 terests and programs in the estuarine zone. Although the States have 

 prime responsibility in most waters relating to the estuarine zone, it is 

 at, or through the county and municipal governments that much of 

 the implementation of a national plan must take place. This area of 

 specific responsibility needs more complete definition. 



The information needs by county are : 



( 1 ) Governmental structure ; 



(2) Its relationship to municipalities within the county; and 



(3) Range of authority concerning the estuarine zone. 



The studies required are a thorough literature search on a county- 

 by-county basis to be supplemented by direct contact where it is not 

 possible to acquire the necessary information from the literature. 



The identification of other entities who have managerial authority 

 over an estuarine zone can help to form the basis for a continuing 

 institutional management plan. Each segment of the institutional 

 mosiac must be placed into its proper position, so that each entity 

 involved can be recognized and can participate at its own level. 



Other needed data is information on the types and sizes of estuarine 

 areas already under active management by any level of government as 

 well as those areas which are mcluded in zoning and regional planning 

 districts. 



All of these data exist. They are filed away in county court houses, 

 chamber of commerce files, and government record books. An inten- 

 sive literature study and files search will be necessary to search out the 

 required information. 



HYDROLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY 



In order to use a resource effectively, management first must quan- 

 tify how much of the resource there is to use. In the case of estuaries — 

 which, like all water resources, are primarily self-renewing when used 



42-847 O — 7( 



