MEETING GUIDE: La Jolla Children’s Pool Joint Use

Seals relaxing in the bay

Who: The Natural Resources and Culture Committee Meeting

When: Wednesday, June 23, 2004, at 9:00 A.M.

Where:
Council Chambers (12^th Floor),

City Administration Building,

202 C Street,

San Diego, CA 92101

What discussion is occurring The Natural Resource and Culture Committee is determining its recommendations for Children’s Pool Beach (CPB) in La Jolla.

What is our position Make the lower beach and the water off limits to humans, but allow people access to the upper sand area behind the existing rope line. This still provides "shared use" of the beach, and protects the seals from harassment; allowing people into the water forces the seals to leave. Keeping the seals on the beach provides a unique educational and recreational benefit that is seen no where else in San Diego County. This is also the cheapest solution – it does not require continuous dredging of the beach for maintenance.

We OPPOSE the City Manager’s recommendation to open the beach to seasonal joint use by humans and seals. This plan is tantamount to driving the seals away permanently.

Who’s Who at the Meeting Jim Madaffer: Chair of the Natural Resources and Culture Committee

Other Committee Members: Donna Frye, Ralph Inzunza, Charles Lewis, Michael Zucchet

Background Materials Attached "Seal Benefits" and "Fact vs. Fiction" Talking Points, see also the La Jolla Friends of the Seals website for more background information: www.lajollaseals.com

Subsequent Actions This issue will also be heard by the full City Council at some future date, hopefully before August.

Key Terms

Joint Use – the City Manager believes seals and humans can co-exist at CPB, with both using the full beach.

Shared Use – Seal supporters believe CPB should be shared: people on the upper sand, seals populating the lower beach and water.

Contacts
James Hudnall

Friends of the Seals

(858) 454-2425

Gabriel Solmer

San Diego Baykeeper

(619) 758-7744

Benefits of Seals Remaining at La Jolla’s Children’s Pool Beach

Educational Benefits:

Children’s Pool Beach (CPB) offers the closest look at wild harbor seals anywhere on the west coast of North America. According to San Diego lifeguard records, approximately 80,000 people a month utilize CPB for recreational "sealwatching".

Local schools use the CPB for classes and field trips.

La Jolla Friends of the Seals has a volunteer Naturalist-Docent program that promotes education and respect for wildlife at the CPB. Docents are present at the site and offer insight into the seals and their behaviors.

Ecological Benefits:

CPB rookery (breeding site) is the only mainland California rookery south of Carpenteria and is the southernmost harbor seal rookery in the United States. It offers the harbor seals their only high and low tide sheltered pupping and nursing haul out area. All rocky haul-outs near CPB (i.e., "Seal Rock") are frequently swept by large surf during the pupping/nursing season.

Harbor seal moms and pups usually stay very close to each other during the 6-8 week nursing period. Permanent separation of mom and pup can result in pup starvation. Large surf can separate pups from their moms.

CPB is in a real sense a "lifeboat rookery" because it is not located near any salmonid rivers (where the federal government is contemplating removing seals), nor is it located near any resident orca populations or resident white shark populations.

Harbor seals do not "pollute" the water. Although there is a high presence of seal fecal coliform during when seals are present, this coliform count returns to normal when the seals leave. According to the County Health Department, no human illness has ever been reported by people swimming in water showing high seal coliform counts. Although swimmers are cautioned not to swim in such water, swimming is not forbidden.

Seal waste is quickly and naturally absorbed into the ecosystem as nutrients for invertebrates and scavenger species, which are then fed upon by other species up the food chain resulting in a naturally rich nearshore ecosystem providing good fishing and lobstering for humans. No unusual algae or plankton blooms are noted at CPB.

The harbor seal population is not growing. Only about 28,000 harbor seals exist along the California coast, and the population has dropped slightly since the last official count.

Harbor seals function as "mineshaft canaries" for our local human swimming/surfing/diving population. Healthy seals indicate healthy water quality for humans. (Fat analysis of dead harbor seals can also provide insight into pollutants present in the coastal ocean.)

Economic Benefits:

80,000 people visit the CPB per month, including many tourists and people from other parts of San Diego. This provides revenue for local businesses.

Other Facts:

11,633 petitions were signed by residents and tourists alike to keep the seals at the Children’s Pool. Of these, 862 were signed by La Jolla residents (~7.5%), 3740 were signed by San Diego City residents (~32%), and 7893 were signed by visitors from outside the city (~68%). An online poll at www.thesandiegochannel.com shows similar results (1684 votes for seals, 815 votes to remove).

La Jolla Children’s Pool Beach (CPB)

Fact vs. Fiction

MYTH:

The seals are polluting our waters.

FACT: Seals and their natural wastes help increase the productivity of the local ecosystem. The presence of the seals has been linked to an increased abundance of marine life in the surrounding areas, which has led to prolific fisheries in the nearby waters. Virtually every major environmental group in the San Diego area advocating water quality, including San Diego Baykeeper, The Surfrider Foundation (San Diego Chapter), Sierra Club (San Diego Chapter), San Diego Audubon Society, Environmental Health Coalition, WiLDCOAST, Divers’ Environmental Conservation Organization, and the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association, support maintaining CPB for the seals.

MYTH:

CPB should be returned to a swimming beach because children used it first.

FACT: The earliest maps from La Jolla (dating from 1887 and 1894) and the United States Geological Survey map of the area show that the original "Seal Rock" is located under the seawall enclosing CPB. Thus, the harbor seals at Children’s Pool Beach have not "invaded" the beach, they have only returned to their ancestral home territory. Even were this beach not native habitat, it is an important site now. Children’s Pool Beach is the only California mainland rookery (breeding site) south of Carpenteria, and an important lifeboat rookery, because it is not located near known predator populations.

MYTH:

CPB should be returned to a swimming beach because Ellen Browning Scripps would not want the seals there.

FACT: Ellen Browning Scripps was a naturalist and environmentalist. Her family and friends tell us she would want the seals to remain, as this natural treasure provides educational and recreational benefits to the children, even if they are not able to swim there. Children benefit tremendously from experiencing the seals, and school groups that have visited CPB want the seals to stay.

MYTH:

The seals are bad for business.

FACT: The seals bring in a large amount of tourists and tourist business to La Jolla and San Diego. In 2003, lifeguards reported a decrease in activity at neighboring La Jolla Cove from 75,000 visits in September to 7,500 in October. Visits to Children’s Pool at that same period of time remained at 80,000 visits both months, showing that not only are there a large number of visitors just to see the seals, those visitors are more consistent.

MYTH:

La Jolla residents don’t want the seals.

FACT: While some La Jolla residents clearly oppose the seals, it is unclear whether this opposition is widespread, or whether it represents a small but vocal minority. We do know is that over 11,000 San Diegans and tourists have signed petitions fighting to keep the seals at Children’s Pool Beach. And the number of visitors to CPB demonstrates widespread interest in the rookery.

MYTH:

The seal population is too big anyway.

FACT: Only about 28,000 harbor seals exist along the California coastline. Although California’s harbor seal population has recovered from being killed off to a mere few hundred seals in the 1920’s, the population has actually decreased slightly since the last official count.

MYTH:

Beachgoers are being denied access to the beach, and should have joint use of the beach.

FACT: "Access" does not necessarily mean "swimming." Shared use does currently exist as visitors can access the upper portion of CPB to view the seals, and as a resource for education, recreation, and relaxation. However, entering the lower portion of the beach and water drives the seals off, constituting harassment that is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In addition, La Jolla has many nearby accessible swimming sites, such as La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores.

What discussion is occurring	The Natural Resource and Culture Committee is determining its recommendations for Children’s Pool Beach (CPB) in La Jolla.
What is our position	Make the lower beach and the water off limits to humans, but allow people access to the upper sand area behind the existing rope line. This still provides "shared use" of the beach, and protects the seals from harassment; allowing people into the water forces the seals to leave. Keeping the seals on the beach provides a unique educational and recreational benefit that is seen no where else in San Diego County. This is also the cheapest solution – it does not require continuous dredging of the beach for maintenance. We OPPOSE the City Manager’s recommendation to open the beach to seasonal joint use by humans and seals. This plan is tantamount to driving the seals away permanently.
Who’s Who at the Meeting	Jim Madaffer: Chair of the Natural Resources and Culture Committee Other Committee Members: Donna Frye, Ralph Inzunza, Charles Lewis, Michael Zucchet
Background Materials	Attached "Seal Benefits" and "Fact vs. Fiction" Talking Points, see also the La Jolla Friends of the Seals website for more background information: www.lajollaseals.com
Subsequent Actions	This issue will also be heard by the full City Council at some future date, hopefully before August.
Key Terms	Joint Use – the City Manager believes seals and humans can co-exist at CPB, with both using the full beach. Shared Use – Seal supporters believe CPB should be shared: people on the upper sand, seals populating the lower beach and water.
Contacts	James Hudnall Friends of the Seals (858) 454-2425	Gabriel Solmer San Diego Baykeeper (619) 758-7744

MYTH:	*The seals are polluting our waters.*
FACT:	Seals and their natural wastes help increase the productivity of the local ecosystem. The presence of the seals has been linked to an increased abundance of marine life in the surrounding areas, which has led to prolific fisheries in the nearby waters. Virtually every major environmental group in the San Diego area advocating water quality, including San Diego Baykeeper, The Surfrider Foundation (San Diego Chapter), Sierra Club (San Diego Chapter), San Diego Audubon Society, Environmental Health Coalition, WiLDCOAST, Divers’ Environmental Conservation Organization, and the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association, support maintaining CPB for the seals.
MYTH:	*CPB should be returned to a swimming beach because children used it first.*
FACT:	The earliest maps from La Jolla (dating from 1887 and 1894) and the United States Geological Survey map of the area show that the original "Seal Rock" is located under the seawall enclosing CPB. Thus, the harbor seals at Children’s Pool Beach have not "invaded" the beach, they have only returned to their ancestral home territory. Even were this beach not native habitat, it is an important site now. Children’s Pool Beach is the only California mainland rookery (breeding site) south of Carpenteria, and an important lifeboat rookery, because it is not located near known predator populations.
MYTH:	*CPB should be returned to a swimming beach because Ellen Browning Scripps would not want the seals there.*
FACT:	Ellen Browning Scripps was a naturalist and environmentalist. Her family and friends tell us she would want the seals to remain, as this natural treasure provides educational and recreational benefits to the children, even if they are not able to swim there. Children benefit tremendously from experiencing the seals, and school groups that have visited CPB want the seals to stay.
MYTH:	*The seals are bad for business.*
FACT:	The seals bring in a large amount of tourists and tourist business to La Jolla and San Diego. In 2003, lifeguards reported a decrease in activity at neighboring La Jolla Cove from 75,000 visits in September to 7,500 in October. Visits to Children’s Pool at that same period of time remained at 80,000 visits both months, showing that not only are there a large number of visitors just to see the seals, those visitors are more consistent.
MYTH:	*La Jolla residents don’t want the seals.*
FACT:	While some La Jolla residents clearly oppose the seals, it is unclear whether this opposition is widespread, or whether it represents a small but vocal minority. We do know is that over 11,000 San Diegans and tourists have signed petitions fighting to keep the seals at Children’s Pool Beach. And the number of visitors to CPB demonstrates widespread interest in the rookery.
MYTH:	*The seal population is too big anyway.*
FACT:	Only about 28,000 harbor seals exist along the California coastline. Although California’s harbor seal population has recovered from being killed off to a mere few hundred seals in the 1920’s, the population has actually decreased slightly since the last official count.
MYTH:	*Beachgoers are being denied access to the beach, and should have joint use of the beach.*
FACT:	"Access" does not necessarily mean "swimming." Shared use does currently exist as visitors can access the upper portion of CPB to view the seals, and as a resource for education, recreation, and relaxation. However, entering the lower portion of the beach and water drives the seals off, constituting harassment that is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In addition, La Jolla has many nearby accessible swimming sites, such as La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores.