The La Jolla Cove Access Working Group has put together a plan to address interactions between humans and sea lions at The Cove, as well as a list of questions for San Diego and state officials about what it would take to make the recommendations happen.
After months of meetings centered on discussion and analysis, the working group ultimately decided to pursue a solution aimed at deterring unsafe human behavior through education and agreed June 2 to advance a multi-pronged approach to that.
The five-point plan includes:
• Improved signage
• A script in various languages to give to tour buses explaining how people can view the sea lions safely
• A clearly marked area for pinniped viewing
• Rangers authorized to issue fines and/or place cones or tape as a visual deterrent
• A system designed to keep sea lions away, such as an acoustic device that emits low-frequency sounds to discourage them from going on land
Those steps would be in addition to education efforts by volunteer docents who patrol the area for the Sierra Club Seal Society.
“It is going to take more than just signage … it is going to take rangers interacting with visitors … it will take tour buses telling their customers how to use the beach safely,” said Nathan Brenner, a working group member and Seal Society volunteer. “They are all necessary components.”
Brenner said current signs “seem disted … and maybe we should get the city to look at [updating] its signage program with more effective signs, as opposed to just adding signs.”
Some who attended the group’s June 2 meeting said that in addition to the script for tour buses, drivers could encourage visitors to use the pinniped viewing platform (should one be created) if they are not planning to go to the water and encourage them to visit The Village as well.
Several group had questions for the city to answer in of what is feasible for any increased ranger presence and where different jurisdictional lines are drawn. Additionally, there were questions about whether rangers placing cones or tape as a visual cue to keep people away from sea lions would constitute simple crowd management or a partial closure.
The group also had questions about any deterrent systems to keep the pinnipeds from coming on land at The Cove.
Group member Bob Evans, who is president of the La Jolla Parks & Beaches board, noted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric istration has a list of legal deterrence options that could be used, including barriers, lights, sprinklers and noisemakers.
Thus, the group said it wants to meet with city, state and other officials to determine what might be viable, including the initial suggestion of sound waves that sea lions find annoying. Electronic acoustic devices are on the list of legal potential methods.
The group is looking to schedule meetings with City Council representatives, lifeguards, NOAA and others to see what it would take to implement its ideas and whether anything would be off the table.
“Once we have the input … they can tell us what is possible,” Brennan said.
The working group also drafted questions about current laws that could be enforced, information that would need to be on the new signage, whether the Cove beach has capacity limits that could be resolved with a viewing platform, budget constraints, whether the city would work with other agencies on this and more.
Beyond the plan recommendations, the group is considering whether to draft a proposed ordinance or revisions to current law that would apply to La Jolla Cove and be enforced by rangers.
Currently, rangers are present at nearby Point La Jolla, where there is a year-round public closure. But public access to The Cove remains unrestricted, and with few city regulations in place there, rangers have less ability to cite people who don’t stay away from the pinnipeds.
La Jolla’s longtime conflict between beach access rights for people and protections for marine animals against human misconduct has led not only to the year-round closure of Point La Jolla, where sea lions haul out, but also the five-month annual public closure of the Children’s Pool, which is home to harbor seals.
Some La Jollans worry that similar restrictions could be put in place at The Cove.
The working group was formed in September under the auspices of La Jolla Parks & Beaches and includes representatives of the city and the La Jolla Town Council, Village Merchants Association, Community Planning Association and Parks & Beaches, as well as the local swimming, diving and scientific communities.
The intent was to come up with a collaborative proposal, with the of as many interested parties as possible, to present the city “a balanced, year-round access solution … preserving recreational access to The Cove while coexisting with the local pinniped population,” according to its charter.
During the group’s first few meetings, raised different scenarios ranging from doing nothing to launching an educational program, and created impact analyses for each scenario and how it would affect different constituent groups, such as tourists and recreational s. ♦
