Collaborative management of natural resources in San Diego Bay

This article presents the results of a three-year effort at applying inform ation technology to the problem of collaborative natural resource managemen t in San Diego Bay. As such, it represents an approach to integrated coasta l zone management (ICZM). This effort resulted from a collaboration between the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Di ego and the San Diego Bay Interagency Water Quality Panel for the purpose o f (1) developing an environmental data repository to facilitate the acquisi tion and sharing of data and (2) the development of a visual model of the b ay in support of the development of a comprehensive, coordinated management plan for San Diego Bay. It was determined from this study that information technology is an important and key component to ICZM but that sociopolitic al factors may override the benefits of decision-support systems and should be considered at the outset of any project of this kind.