(Eilene Zimmerman)
On one stretch of California coast, it’s sand, sea, and man vs. beast
A years-long legal battle for a La Jolla cove may be ending – but for activists on both sides, the seal saga goes on.
By Eilene Zimmerman | Correspondent / July 29, 2008 edition
Correspondent Eilene Zimmerman talks with CSMonitor.com's Pat Murphy about the battle between seals and humans over a southern California beach.
Eilene Zimmerman
Eilene Zimmerman
Controverseal: At Children’s Pool in La Jolla, visitors gaze at the seals near the shoreline, but few people venture onto the beach.
It’s a sunny summer Tuesday, and in the waters off La Jolla Cove, kayakers paddle toward underwater caves and swimmers dot the surface. At Children’s Pool, a sliver of beach sheltered by a 300-foot-long crescent-shaped wall, the sand is white, the water is a shimmery blue-green, and the smell – well, the smell is terrible.
The air is thick with the stench of seal poop – a scent as sour as the years-long battle for this tiny piece of shoreline. For over a decade, it’s been the pinnipeds vs. the people in a fight for control, with activists on both sides using everything from heckling and restraining orders to lawsuits and a stun gun to draw and redraw their respective lines in the sand.
Seals have been gathering here since the 1990s, gradually making Children’s Pool – created as a place for families and children – a seal rookery, a place for the animals to have babies, rest, and relieve themselves. These days, given the water’s bacteria levels, it’s no longer considered safe for humans to swim.
Until very recently, the city was asking visitors to stay behind a rope barrier that protected seals lounging at the water’s edge. But in 2005, a California Superior Court ordered the city to take down the rope, remove the seals, and clean up the pool. Animal-rights activists appealed the decision, but last month, a US Appeals Court refused to hear their case. The California Supreme Court has also declined to hear it. The city has already begun the permitting process to clear the way for dredging, says Stacey LoMedico, San Diego’s Parks and Recreation director. But that process will probably take years, and in the meantime, the battle rages on.
Today is quiet: About 50 brown and gray seals rest on the beach. Several signs warn that seals are protected by federal law; other signs, posted by animal-rights activists, beg visitors to “Respect The Seals and Other Seal Watchers By Not Going On The Beach.” On this perfect beach day, Children’s Pool sits unused, at least by humans.
But on weekends, Children’s Pool becomes a war zone, the site of an ongoing showdown between animal-rights activists and the divers and swimmers who don’t want their beach access trumped by pinnipeds. Over the July 4 holiday weekend, pro-public-access activists used a bullhorn to encourage visitors to use the beach. One pup died after reportedly being stepped on; SeaWorld rescued another.
“It’s pretty wild,” says Tom Sauer, a retired attorney and longtime La Jolla resident who believes the beach should be returned to the people. On weekends, “People stand here yelling at each other,” he says. “I don’t come down here then. I don’t like the vibe.”
•••
Children’s Pool is one of the only urban beaches in the country where harbor seals congregate – this, despite attention from tens of thousands of tourists each month.
“This is a rare thing,” says Bryan Pease, founder and general counsel of the San Diego-based Animal Protection and Rescue League. “This is a place to see seals behaving naturally in their natural environment.”
But how natural is it for seals to give birth a stone’s throw from pricey boutiques, four-star restaurants, and luxury hotels?
“It’s just the evolution of the coastline,” says Mr. Pease. “No one predicted this 80 years ago, when they built the sea wall.”
That 300-foot-long stone wall was the gift of philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, who hoped to make the beach a safe place for children to play and swim. In 1931 the state deeded the land to the city of San Diego with a few conditions, including its exclusive use as a public park and children’s pool. But the same wall that made this sandy nook tranquil enough for children has, over time, made it attractive to seals.
Advocates of the seals’ presence point out that the deed doesn’t say seals can’t use the beach. And the seals, after all, have been in this area for thousands of years. “Expecting them not to use the beach when it’s a prime haul-out [resting] area is asking too much,” says Vicky Cornish, vice president for marine-wildlife conservation at Ocean Conservancy in Washington D.C.
As for humans and seals sharing the beach, Mr. Sauer says simply, “It doesn’t work.” Even what to call the area is a point of contention. Pro-seal activists call it Casa Beach; pro-public-access activists call it Children’s Pool.
Sauer, walking along the coastline, points out the route he swims nearly every day. When he gets to Children’s Pool, the beach is empty except for a few seals.
“This is what shared use looks like,” he says. Pro-seal activists man an information table and hand out brochures. Several times each week, they videotape pro-public-access advocates who walk or run close to seals on their way into Children’s Pool. Those swims – tainted water and all – are part of the opposite side’s effort to flush seals back into the water and make a point about public access.
If human beachcombers are rare, that may be because it’s not entirely clear what they’re allowed to do. While some signs warn people to leave seals alone, others read: “There is no law against using this public beach.” The rules are confusing, the signs and the activists sometimes intimidating. Most people keep to the top of the stone wall and to walkways above the beach – a sight that continually frustrates Sauer.
“This beach belongs to the public … for full recreational use,” he says. “Seals don’t need the level of protection where we tell people, ‘You can’t swim on this beach, you can’t walk on this beach.’ Look, I love the seals; my wife loves the seals. But they can go to the other side of the beach, to the reefs…. We have a colony here of 200 – they won’t be gone.”
Experts say Sauer is probably right. Seals are found widely in the North Pacific, from Alaska to Baja California. Pam Yochem, a marine biologist at San Diego’s Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, estimates that there are about 1,000 seal haul-out sites in California, with four in southern California.
These days a security guard spends weekends on the beach, charged with keeping the place accessible to people and keeping the people from harassing the seals.
On a recent Saturday, a group of cyclists from Oceanside, Calif., stand on a walkway overlooking Children’s Pool. “It’s a lot more fun watching seals than watching kids,” says one.
A man from Amsterdam photographs a pup and says, “There are other spots to swim, but only one spot for the animals.”
Matt Hough, a San Diegan, sits enjoying the view. The mere mention of the ongoing tug-of-war irritates him. “The city should just take down the wall,” he says. “If the seals stay, they stay. There’s tons of shoreline here. Really, there are safer places to take kids to swim.”
•••
The next day, I take my own kids to Children’s Pool, and the controversy becomes a family debate. About 50 seals are on the beach, and a few pups flop-hop around. My daughter, who is 12, snaps photos and finds it “weird” that we’re reluctant to go down the steps. “I think it should be for the kids. It’s such a special place for swimming,” she says.
My son believes the seals should stay. “You can’t control nature. It does whatever it’s going to do,” he says, sounding awfully contemplative for a 9-year-old. “And they are really cute.”
2. Ellen Shively | 07.29.08
What the article leaves out is that seven uses were included in deeding the land over to San Diego. The lawsuit only addressed two - a park and a place for children to swim. 1931 was a long time ago - before the Marine Mammal Protection Act and before we had the heightened appreciation for preserving what little wildlife experiences are left in an urban setting. The last of the uses says, …and other uses as shall be deemed appropriate for the full uses of the beach. The other uses,such as watching wildlife, are ignored by the lop sided judgement, yet are equally important. For example, a Zogby poll revealed that San Diegans are overwhelmingly in favor of more protection for the seals, as are children. The businesses in La Jolla love the revenues over a 100,000 monthly visitors and locals bring to the village. And the seals are merely reclaiming their ancestral beach, as indicated by an 1887 map naming the rocks over which the seawall was built, “seal point”. One judge has set up yet another environmental tragedy, amnd we will all be the poorer for it. Your 9 year old was wise, Miss Zimmerman. Listen to him.
3. Richard B. | 07.29.08
I have little use for people who value animals more than humans. It may not be ‘trendy’ to say that, but it is scary how many people will fight for an animal and at the same time will allow people to suffer.
The original terms of the donation seem pretty clear. Honor it
4. Jim Hudnall | 07.29.08
I am always disppointed when a publshed article about the La Jolla harbor seal rookery is biased and facts are skewed to fit the bias. The story above is obviously biased in favor of the human users of Casa/Children’s Pool Beach.
To set the record straight:
1. All polls, petitions and surveys demonstrate that our general public overwhelmingly prefers to have Casa Beach protected as a seal rookery.
2. Casa Beach is the only Southern California mainland beach utilized by harbor seals as a rookery, and is the southernmost harbor seal rookery on the west coast of the United States.
3. Recreational harbor seal watching is a valid beachgoer activity, enjoyed by thousands of people visiting the La Jolla rookery every month.
4. Harbor seals, as top trophic level predators, contribute to the richness of the nearshore and beach ecosystem.
5. The occasional scent of harbor seal scats, grossly over-emphasized by the writer of the above article, is far less noticeable than the smell of pelican and cormorant feces above popular La Jolla Cove Beach.
–Jim Hudnall
5. Andrea Hahn | 07.29.08
What a strange and skewed perspective of the controversy surrounding the Harbor Seal Colony at Casa Beach. How disappointing that Ms. Zimmerman did not do her research. One would certainly conclude from her analysis that the public is in a battle meted out against these shy, gentle, timid creatures, for the benefit of the use of this one small stretch of beach? Nothing could be further from the truth. A recent Zogby Poll that appears vacant from the said analysis, reveals that 80 percent of San Diegans polled and in particular 91 percent of District One, which encompasses La Jolla, were and still are in tremendous favor of placing a rope to protect these untidy animals who breath, eat, defecate, procreate, and reproduce to the disgust of Ms. Zimmerman, thus putting her in the smallest percentile of all, among those who actually dislike Seals. For Shame.
6. Joey Racano | 07.29.08
The stench you’re smelling actually comes from the garbage the CSM has published here, with its yellow journalism and twisted ‘facts’. The seal poop is part of the ocean ecosystem, and kelp need it to grow- what isn’t a part of the system is the millions of gallons of human sewage dumped every day from Point Loma, sewage that is extra filthy because of the REAL story here- San Diego has the last 301(h) sewage waiver in California. This waiver allows San Diego to dump sewage with extra fecal debris in the discharge, something that will really make you sick!
And the seals? Their history in the area goes back to before the pilgrims came to the new world. A USGS survey map from the 1800’s called the beach ‘SEAL ROCKS’. This place wasn’t ‘created’ by Scripps, it was created by GOD.
The Christian Science Monitor, of all people, should know that.
Meanwhile, the human sewage pours and pours at Point Loma. And the poor seals have nowhere to complain to.
Joey Racano, Director
California Ocean Outfall Group
805 540-8970
talkaboutthebay@yahoo.com
note: The OOG will be in San Diego this September to stop the waiver. -jr
7. Juan | 07.29.08
We are taking ever space out of nature. I think God give a place for everything. Is like oil, we take and take without knowing what is the purpose of this ugly thing in the guts of the earth. California have plenty of coastal sea, there are places that are less blessed and they learn to live with all species, course they are not so rich and spoil like us.
8. G. Thom Hahn | 07.29.08
I am curious. Why did Mrs Zimmerman take her children to the Children’s Pool beach in La Jolla if the seal faecal stench was so bad?. From the article it appears that the children did not notice any stench.
9. John Leek | 07.29.08
You did a superior job getting all sorts of input, and it shows when you do that you get wildly divergent views. I would only add that Children’s Pool is not the natural miracle it is made out to be. Testimony in the 2005 suit to force the restoration of Children’s Pool revealed that in the 90’s the City’s goal was to make a tourist attraction out of Seal Rock, 100 yds north. Seals were seen there pretty regularly. An agreement was struck with Sea World, which rescues and rehabilitates all marine mammals, from Mexico to San Clemente, to preferentially release harbor seals in the vicinity. With the rope across the Children’s Pool installed, many of these who were abandoned pups & bottle fed, thought they had human parents and saw nothing wrong with colonizing a public beach. Then the rope went up and the wild seals joined them on this “abandoned beach”. I used the Freedom of Information Act to get the data from NOAA which was complicit in this. From 1993 to 2005, 3/4 of the releases for the whole county were in the area of Children’s Pool. Let me know if you want a copy.
Please note the City is not mentioning that the O’Sullivan judgment was in 2 distinct parts. Remove the sand that has build up over 75 years of neglect, so there is a pool there again, AND make the water fit for public bathing per health department. It was the City that studied the matter in 99 and 2004 and concluded the only way to make the beach fit for public use was to remove the seals which are the source of coloform. (too many seagulls can make a beach flunk too)
The City has found permits to apply for to delay the sand removal, though those may be ruled bogus. The City has NO legal excuse for not removing the seals, as the only regulatory agency (NOAA) had told the City repeatedly it needs no permit. The City was supposed to have dispersed the seals to the wild and was give 6 months to do it, in November. The City is in contempt of court since June, and is only not suffering for it because the docket of the California Superior court is full until 9/12.
I was amused to read of the “activist” who used a bullhorn to urge people to visit the beach. I was that guy. We had complained to the police that Doroda Valli was telling everybody through her bullhorn for months that it was illegal to go on the beach, and the police said they were advised to let her do it. I brought my bullhorn twice, but I was not so stupid as to urge anybody to visit the beach, lest I be responsible for what they might do thereafter. I kept it to truthful statements about the law and the public access rules.
You want documentation for any of this? Make my day.
Be of good cheer, live long and prosper.
10. Janet | 07.30.08
All up and down the California coast are developments which have boundaries on maps but are otherwise one long strip of housing. The attempt to protect one small area for wildlife is a concession that without wildlife there will be no o life for people. The people can give up that little piece of land. There are other beaches - hundreds of miles of them. The fisheries are gone and the peace is gone so why not leave the seals to live in peace. People have destroyed most of the land and a lot of the ocean. Grow up. Leave something for the heirs of the children who have to swim on another beach.
11. Andrea Hahn | 07.30.08
Where does one go to read the comments about this article? Being that the subject matter is considered by your publication to be controversial, I find it hard to believe that there are none to be found. It would be greatly appreciated that as the “Christian Science Monitor”, you practice what you preach. As most civilized people know, public commentary is instrumental in open handed discourse concerning issues of humanity, and battles between man and nature fall under this category. Otherwise, under this bold and brazen mix of God, Man, and Nature, you would only be issuing forth propaganda in substance.
12. Oatka | 08.02.08
“In 1931 the state deeded the land to the city of San Diego with a few conditions, including its exclusive use as a public park and children’s pool.”
With clear language like that, they still have to go to court?
“Advocates of the seals’ presence point out that the deed doesn’t say seals can’t use the beach.”
The deed doesn’t say anything about sharks either, who will be attraracted by the seals, and which will be the next problem. Nothing like watching a seal - or a human being torn apart in a welter of bloody water.
“My son believes the seals should stay. “You can’t control nature. It does whatever it’s going to do,” he says, . . . ”
See above.
“And they are really cute.”
And really, really tasty - according to the sharks.
13. Oatka | 08.02.08
“In 1931 the state deeded the land to the city of San Diego with a few conditions, including its exclusive use as a public park and children’s pool.”
With clear language like that, they still have to go to court?
“Advocates of the seals’ presence point out that the deed doesn’t say seals can’t use the beach.”
The deed doesn’t say anything about sharks either, who will be attracted by the seals, and which will be the next problem. Nothing like watching a seal - or a human being torn apart in a welter of bloody water.
“My son believes the seals should stay. “You can’t control nature. It does whatever it’s going to do,” he says, . . . ”
See above.
“And they are really cute.”
And really, really tasty - according to the sharks.
14. John Leek | 08.02.08
Please retract my comment of 7/30/08. Although my quote was accurate, I just noticed a legal caveat at the bottom of her email making it privileged information. I must go back an request her permission to quote her.
15. John Leek | 08.07.08
The most interesting story was unobserved. It is not about seals at all. They are doing very well in California. They are but pawns in a land grab for profit and privilege of animal rights activists.
So many laud the healthy natural effects of seal dung in the ocean. This is good news. We can stop this expensive sewage treatment and contribute even more health to the ocean. Mine is just as natural as theirs.
I have a copy of the Geodetic map from 1887. It shows a large rock that is no longer there, due west of the life guard tower, and did call it Seal Rock. Look where surf breaks out there today. There was also a Cathedral Rock, as big as a house, at South Casa until 1910. Before the sea wall made it safe, there was no sand in front of where the sea wall is now and the giant tide pool was called The Pool. When the waves came up, it was dangerous for the unwary and so the sea wall was built in 1931. A sand dune now buries the original gift to the Children of San Diego; their pool.
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1. B. Moore | 07.29.08
There seems to be a simple solution. Remove the seal waste on a timely basis each week and provide another pool for humans–it is a very long cold water coastline, with many beautiful coves. by the way, seal poop is very valuable. This presents a rare opportunity for the right people.