Rapport du groupe de travail "estuaires, deltas"

The objective proposed by the Centre National pour l'Exploitation des Océans for the Estuary-Delta Working Group was to formulate and reconnnend a research program on estuaries and deltas, in order to obtain a working comprehension of the natural processes of these environments in relation to their use so as to define guidelines for their proper management. Having initially recognized the complex, multidisciplinary nature of the research required, the group enlarged its initial scope and competence by creating 4 thematic groups : Theme 1 : Primary and paraprimary production in relation to physical and chemical processes, Theme 2 : Ecosystem dynamics £rom the secondary production level upward, Theme 3 : The behaviour of pollutants in relation to hydrodynamic, sedimentological and biological processes ; sanitary and microbiological aspects. Theme 4 : Sediment transport processes in relation to hydrodynamics. The work of these thematic groups, which is the object of this report, has enabled the formulation of major research axes for the coming years and a certain number of recornmendations. This report is completed by the results of an inquiry into the research organisations in these domains. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]