250 • Marine Minerals: Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier 



Box 7-A. Major Producers and Users of EEZ Data 



Department of Commerce: 



• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 



National Ocean Survey (NOS) ' 



National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 



National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) 



—National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) 



— National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) ^^^ 



Department of Interior: ^^M 



• Minerals Management Service (MMS) 



• United States Geological Survey (USGS) | 



• Bureau of Mines (BOM) 



National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration (NASA) 



U.S. Department of Defense: 



• United States Navy 



Academic and Private Laboratories: 



• Scripps Institution of Oceanography 



• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 



• University of Washington 



• University of Miami 



• Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory 



• Texas A&M University 



• University of Rhode Island 



• Oregon State University 



• Hawaii Institute of Geophysics 



• University of Texas 



Industry: 



• Oil and Gas Companies 



• Geophysical Prospecting Companies 



MANAGEMENT OF DATA RESOURCES 



Effective data management is a critical part of 

 any systematic survey or rese£u-ch effort,'" but man- 

 agement of EEZ data has been elusive. There are 

 several aspects to the problem. Many different 

 groups (Federal laboratories and agencies, State ge- 

 ologists, academic research laboratories, and indus- 

 try) collect, use, and/or archive many kinds of data 

 from the EEZ. Data of many kinds and different 

 quantities are collected. Consistent reporting for- 

 mats are not necessarily used. These problems v^ill 

 worsen as sensors (e.g., satellites, multi-beam echo- 



'°Data management is defined as the process of planning, collect- 

 ing, processing, and cmalyzing for primary use (e.g., for research); 

 and storing, archiving, and distributing the acquired data for secondary 



sounders, and multi-channel seismic reflection 

 recorders) produce data at faster rates. Realization 

 of the scope of this data management problem is 

 growing." '^ '^ 



""There are problems with the way data are currendy managed. 

 The distribution, storage, and communication of data currendy limit 

 the efficient extraction of scientific resvdts ..." National Research 

 Council, Data Management and Computation, Vo7unie /; Issues and 

 Recommendations (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1982). 



'^"Given the lack of long-term interest in managing the national 

 environmental data archive in academia and the private sector, the 

 Federal government must be responsible for meiintaining this national 

 asset ..." National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, 

 An Assessment of the Roles and Missions of the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Administration , unpublished report, 1987, p. 71; 

 "... Current NOAA data management systems and policies need 

 to be carefully reexamined. . . . If urgent steps are not taken, ... the 

 utility of the NESDIS data centers, a national asset, will continue to 



