Marine Reserve Plan Gets Bridge Loan

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 30, 2009 at 12:29 PM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

A plan to create a statewide network of marine protected areas in California is relying on private funding because of the state's budget crisis. California froze funding to many projects because of th

A plan to create a statewide network of marine protected areas in California is relying on private funding because of the state's budget crisis. California froze funding to many projects because of the state's $40 billion deficit. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The private money was needed so the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative or MLPA can complete a habitat-mapping project in Southern California - including areas along San Diego County's coastline.

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Melissa Miller-Henson is the MLPA Initiative Program Manager.

She says the money will pay for mapping marine areas from Point Conception to the Mexican border.

Mille-Henson: There was only really one project that was affected and we were able to identify some bridge funding to temporarily keep that moving forward so that we can have the data that we need for the South Coast Study Region.

Recommendations for that region, including offshore islands off San Diego's coast, are expected to be completed this year.

The MLPA Initiative directs the state to create underwater reserves to preserve marine ecosystems and boost fish populations.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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