554 



The foregoing discussions showed that the major kinds of available 

 management information can be grouped into two broad categories: 

 that information which has never been collected, and that information 

 which has been collected but not published or released in a usable form. 



There is a need, therefore, for an overall basic data collection pro- 

 gram including a nationwide system of routine field data collection 

 and estuarine water quality, pollution source, and ecological monitor- 

 ing as well as a system for the collection of "gray" data. As coroUarys 

 to these, however, there must be a means for handling, using, and dis- 

 seminating the information being collected, and there must be a means 

 for advancing the state of knowledge to increase management 

 capability. 



The need in the estuarine zone is not for three separate programs, 

 but for one integrated program with the three facets outlined above. 

 Such a program must also recognize and cope witli the realities of op- 

 erating a large data collection and dissemination system which depends 

 on contributions from diverse sources. 



The 2-year effort in collecting information on the estuarine zone has 

 led to these conclusions about the problems of locating and acquiring 

 data: 



(1) Most agencies, groups, and individuals will permit ready 

 access to their files and data records, but lack manpower and/or 

 incentive to "assemble, coordinate, and organize" them for the 

 use of other groups. 



(2) Large central data systems often have difficulty acquiring 

 data, because users — who are also the potential contributors — 

 frequently encounter problems caused by system inflexibility and 

 the slowness of ponderous size, often becoming skeptical of its 

 value and loathe to contribute information. 



(3) All data sources mentioned in table "VT.2.1, with the excep- 

 tion of the county governments, have been queried for this in- 

 formation and have already responded to the greatest extent pos- 

 sible ; therefore, the data gaps existing in the inventory represent 

 the limits of present capability in providing data. 



(4) Experience has shown that frequently there may appear to 

 be a lack of data when actually the data exist but in an obscure 

 form or place, or else held under proprietary restriction. 



(5) Data are taken primarily where there is a direct economic 

 return or a problem associated with an agency mission. 



None of the problems associated with collecting management infor- 

 mation and efficiently disseminating it to serve management purposes 

 is unsolvable, but these problems set the framework within which a 

 program must operate to provide needed management information 

 to users. 



Section 4. The Recommended Program 



A g^eneral program to acquire and organize information on the 

 estuarine zone to satisfy management needs should consist of three 

 equally important and interrelated activities: 



1. An integrated and comprehensive program of routine estu- 

 arine zone data collection, including monitoring of estuarine water 

 quality and habitat. 



