565 



THE NEED TO AUGMENT AND SYNTHESIZE BASIC KNOWLEDGE TO PERMIT 

 OPTIMUM ESTUARINE MANAGEMENT 



The quintessence of any management system is the development of 

 predictive capability. Having established the goals and uses; having 

 established the knowledge of the potential, the capability, and intrinsic 

 values of our estuaries ; we must then know w^hat will occur in response 

 to a given stress or stimulus or activity of man or nature. It is this 

 ability of prediction, of knowing what would be the sequelae of our 

 actions, that will enable us to truly manage our estuaries in an intelli- 

 gent fashion. The w^ay we technically manage a specific estuary de- 

 pends upon the goals established for that estuary and on what uses we 

 wish to make of it. The research program to support this technical 

 management is then dependent upon the goals and uses we have 

 selected. All information gathered and studies performed must be 

 oriented toward developing predictive capability if the benefits of 

 wise management are to be attained. 



Section 3. Major Knowledge Gaps and a Program of Needed 



Study and Research 



This section introduces the discussion of what must be done to pro- 

 vide the data base outlined in section 2, coupled with the analysis, re- 

 search, and study required to provide the knowledge and understanding 

 necessary to support a program of technical management. We intend 

 to identify the major problem areas in which there are large knowledge 

 gaps and concurrently present research and study programs that will 

 provide the needed information. We will also discuss the kinds of 

 research that will supply a basis for decisions that will optimize bene- 

 ficial uses of the estuarine resources. The research programs proposed 

 below are designed to recognize and interpret the causal relationships 

 that are an integral part of any research program of value for man- 

 agement decisions. This understanding of causal relationships is the 

 key to developing the capability to predict the effects of natural and 

 man-induced activities on the estuarine zone, and, hence, to manage 

 them. 



Any discussion of knowledge gaps in major problem areas leads 

 naturally to a description of the broad programs necessary to satisfy 

 this need for information. Thus, as such gaps are identified, the 

 remedial research and study activities are developed and incorporated 

 into the appropriate discussion. 



There is no attempt to exhaustively list research projects but rather 

 to delineate the broad areas which need further study. Many of these 

 research and study needs do not conveniently fall into categories or 

 disciplines. In fact, most of them do not, reflecting the complex inter- 

 acting nature of the estuary itself : a complex of air, sediment, ocean, 

 freshwater influx, marsh, beach, or rock, and the estuary itself. Be- 

 cause of this, problem areas have been identified largely on the basis of 

 kinds of approaches that will yield meaningful results. 



