It is our pleasure to report that Mike Kennish received the 2009 award from NOAA and the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association for outstanding contributions to the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). The award was presented to Mike at the annual meeting of the NERRS held in San Diego last week. Mike was recognized for his research and public outreach on human impacts to coastal systems including watershed development, habitat loss and alteration, nutrient enrichment and eutrophication. Regional and national contributions were noted including ecosystem assessment and remediation for the Barnegat Bay, publication of several special issues of journals such as the Journal of Coastal Research devoted to estuarine ecosystem studies, and his efforts to develop new measures of assessment for estuarine and marine waters with state and federal resource management agencies.
Mike has made it his mission to ensure the effects of global climate change and the eutrophication of the Barnegat Bay are recognized and mitigated through changes in environmental policy and better planning in the communities surrounding the Bay and its tributaries.