598 



DATA PROCESSING 



Scientific data describing the various estuarine systems has been 

 collected for many years. Regrettably, this information rarely is put 

 into a form in which it is generally available and useful for geographic 

 areas beyond that in which the study was done. A specific need of 

 research workers is for conventionalized methods of observation and 

 data recording to be made and a central exchange where such informa- 

 tion might be inserted and extracted by workers of all disciplines from 

 all areas of the country. Such a system would rapidly become an en- 

 cyclopedic form of inventory. A great deal of thought and work must 

 be devoted to the formulation of this system and for the development 

 of a program to manage this system. Studies which have been con- 

 ducted for specific purposes in specific areas should be integrated into 

 a larger mass of information and made generally available. This sys- 

 tem would serve not only researchers, but would also be an integral 

 part of the information needed for planning, funding, and managing 

 estuarine areas. 



A second area of need in data processing is increased emphasis on 

 correlating the collection of physical, chemical, and biological data in 

 estuaries. For purposes of water quality management, descriptive data 

 in one of these categories is essentially useless without comparable 

 information in the other two. A critical core of data (including tem- 

 perature, dissolved oxygen, salinity and pH profiles, chlorophylls, cur- 

 rent velocities, bottom sediment, characterization, transparency, total 

 sestion, dissolved carbon, etc.) should be identified as commonly needed 

 in all ecological studies of estauries. Federal and federally sponsored 

 researchers should be required to collect this data at reasonable time 

 intervals during the course of all estuarine studies. Standard data 

 processing techniques should be established and copies of information 

 received should be collected in a central data storage bank. 



If these two suggested approaches to data collection and data man- 

 agement are followed, the benefit to be derived by all estuarine work- 

 ers will repay many times over the extra effort and nuisance required 

 to supply a central source with duplicate copies of data. 



TRAINING 



The success of a national estuarine research program will to a very 

 great extent depend on the availability of well-trained and imaginative 

 manpower that can implement national goals. Modern approaches to 

 estuarine research will require more people on laboratory staffs with 

 interdisciplinary training in quantitative ecology and resource man- 

 agement. A program should be initiated to encourage scientists in a 

 given discipline to undertake studies related to estuarine management. 

 Economists should be encouraged to acquire a basic understanding of 

 hydrology, ecology, and law. Engineers should be encouraged to study 

 economics and ecology. Laboratories must now pursue comprehensive 

 programs combining many disciplines if we are to expect to manage 

 our coastal resources and their environments effectively. This approach 

 req^uires a staff which most laboratories cannot acquire without ad- 

 ditional support. Small laboratories should consider combining with 

 larger laboratories, at least by using computer links which could 



