SAN DIEGO -- North County officials Wednesday urged a state task force not to ban beach restoration projects in marine protected areas it expects to designate along the Southern California coast.

But an environmental activist urged the task force to bar them, saying dredging sand from the ocean bottom and dumping it on the shore buries the marine life and ecosystems such areas are intended to protect.

Melissa Miller-Henson, program manager for the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, a public-private agency guiding the 64-member task force, said during a meeting break she could not say whether sand replenishment would be permitted in protected areas.

That, she said, is because the issue never came up when earlier task forces proposed similar systems along the central and northern coast last year and in 2007. The California Fish and Game Commission eventually adopted protected areas in those parts of the state without addressing beach restoration.

Miller-Henson said a commission decision that came after the central-coast adoption may suggest beach restoration won't be barred. She said a plan to dredge Morro Bay ran into opposition from conservationists who said it ran counter to a new protected area there, but the commission refused to block it.

"Can I say (beach restoration) will never be prohibited? I don't know," Miller-Henson said.

Clearly, she said, the beach question is something that, after being missed earlier, must be addressed by the latest task force.

That task force is composed of a dozen commercial fishermen, a dozen recreational fishing representatives, 10 members of environmental groups and a cross-section of scientists, politicians, university researchers and tribal leaders from throughout Southern California. Dubbed the South Coast Regional Stakeholder Group, the panel is in the early stages of exploring what a system of marine protected areas might look like in state waters that extend three miles out from the shore.

Members took turns Wednesday at a meeting in downtown San Diego suggesting what areas they believe should be included or left out of a Southern California system of reserves.

One said most of the waters offshore of North County should be included to protect the area's kelp forests and picturesque lagoons. Another member stressed that the areas around ports and harbors such as the one at Oceanside should be left open because they are crucial to recreational and commercial fishing.

Others suggested La Jolla waters be kept open because the area is a prime fishing ground, a productive urchin harvesting area and a popular place to dive, while still others urged it be closed to protect the sensitive habitat there.

No lines were drawn on a map. The suggestions were opening salvos in what promises to be a contentious, several-months-long process to determine what areas will be preserved in a bid to boost shrinking fish populations and restore kelp beds.

The task force will be asked to produce a draft plan by May 21 and a final proposal by Sept. 10. The state commission could adopt a plan as early as October.

As for beach restoration, three North County officials took turns informing the task force about the San Diego Association of Governments project that placed 2 million cubic yards of sand on a dozen San Diego County beaches in 2001. And they noted that area officials are laying the groundwork for a similar, follow-up restoration project in 2010 or 2011.

That project is expected to cost $22 million and the association has been awarded a $6.5 million state grant for it.

But even if the association is successful at securing the additional funds, the project won't go anywhere if, in designating marine protected areas, the state in effect outlaws sand replenishment, they said.

"We request that the … (task force) give careful consideration to the impact that designations may have on the region's ability to meet these goals," said Ann Kulchin, a Carlsbad councilwoman and chairwoman of the association's shoreline preservation committee.

Kulchin was echoed by Solana Beach Councilman Joe Kellejian and coastal county Supervisor Pam Slater-Price. All stressed a robust beach is crucial to a local economy that the state says is boosted by the more than $6 billion spent by 8 million annual visitors.

Not only that, said Kulchin, "The coastline is an important part of the culture of the city of Carlsbad" and North County.

Economics aside, Kellejian said sand replenishment is the most practical and environmentally friendly way to fortify his city's dangerous 70-foot bluffs.

"When these bluffs come down, they come down in Volkswagen-sized blocks," he said.

But Serge Dedina, executive director for the San Diego County environmental group Wildcoast, said sand replenishment is anything but environmentally friendly.

"Beach nourishment represents one of the most significant threats to marine reserves," Dedina said. "Essentially, you're covering these marine reserves with a layer of sand."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.