COAST CITIES — State officials have said marine parks, reserves and conservation areas off the coast of Southern California will be re-examined and re-designated.

The Marine Life Protection Act, signed into law in 1999, directs the state to redesign California’s marine or estuarine areas to better protect and conserve marine life and habitat.

After a series of “stops and starts,” due to lack of funding, the Marine Life Protection Act has been slowly working its way down the coast.

At a workshop held in Carlsbad on July 9, stations were set up with information and specialists were on hand to answer questions.

The informal gathering was designed to encourage conversation between both sides of the sometimes-controversial question of just how much marine life

habitat should be set aside for underwater wildlife reserves.

Stakeholders were encouraged to attend and to participate.

“Our goal is to help the state conserve marine life and habitat by designing a network of marine protected areas along the entire coast of California in order to restore a healthy ocean ecosystem,” Susan Golding, chair of a task force overseeing the planning process, said. “The public’s participation is vital to our ability to do this successfully.”

Meetings have been held in Central and Northern California where the reassessment results are now being reviewed.

The South Coast Study Region runs from Santa Barbara County to San Diego County.

“It is the largest and the most controversial area,” Steve Martarano, supervising information officer for the state Department of Fish and Game, said.

The protected areas are designed to complement, not replace, the existing fishery management regulations.

There are currently three types of protected areas. A State Marine Reserve, where all extractive activities are prohibited;; a State Marine Park, where all commercial extractive activities and some recreational activities are prohibited; and a State Marine Conservation area, where all recreational and commercial extractive activities are limited.

The Marine Life Protection Act is designed to combine the three protection areas into one. The process could take up to 18 months, Martarano said.

Recommendations are for the Marine Life Protection Act areas to be reassessed every five years.

Existing marine protected areas, or MPAs, in North County can be found in each of the three lagoons in Carlsbad — the Buena Vista Lagoon, the Agua Hedionda Lagoon, and the Batiquitos Lagoon.

San Dieguito Lagoon State Marine Park and San Elijo Lagoon as well as points off Encinitas and San Elijo State Beach in Cardiff-by-the-Sea are also protected.

In the city of San Diego, areas off Scripps Pier, La Jolla and Point Loma are protected as well.

According to information released by the state Department of Fish and Game, the MPAs do work and scientific data has shown increases in the number of animals, individual size, and total number of species within the protected areas.

For more information on the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, visit www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa.