Sea Sabres Scuba Diving club, Southern
California, Fullerton
Sea
Sabres
Seals vs. people in battle for beach
Marine mammals don't want to give up their
turf as swimmers try to reclaim a popular La Jolla pool closed by pollution.
By
BARBARA WHITAKER
The New York Times
SAN DIEGO – It is man vs. seal in a battle for a
patch of prime protected beach in affluent La Jolla, and it appears the seals
are winning.
An effort a week ago to show that the two
could share a section of the beach known as Children's Pool ended badly when a
swimmer was attacked by a seal, ending up bruised and scraped. About 30
swimmers had set out from La Jolla Cove to swim to the nearby Children's Pool,
but nearly two-thirds were diverted as seals rushed into the water when the
swimmers entered.
"For nearly 70 years, man and seal
shared this beach successfully," said Anne Cleveland, who participated in
the event. "But now I think the balance has been tipped because people
have been banned for so long."
Generations of people have grown up swimming
in the pool, which opened in 1931 through the largess of a local matriarch,
Ellen Browning Scripps. The construction of a half-moon-shaped seawall created
Children's Pool, where youngsters could swim in the ocean safe from heavy surf.
Just outside the area is Seal Rock, where
for years seals have congregated.
In 1997, city officials were forced to close
the Children's Pool section of the beach when unsafe pollution levels -
attributed to seal feces - were detected. The City Council created a temporary
reserve around Seal Rock to protect the seals, which are also protected under
the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
In the absence of humans, the seals, now
numbering about 200, have become entrenched and a popular tourist attraction.
But La Jolla residents trying to reclaim the
Children's Pool beach section say the increased tourist traffic is just one
more reason to move the seals. Most important, they say, the pool was created
so children would have a place to swim. "I learned to swim there," said
Melinda Merryweather, who is fighting for the beach to be reopened. "My
grandmother and mother swam there, and I taught my son to swim there."
Now, Merry weather said, she wants to teach her 2-year-old granddaughter to
swim there.
The City Council is scheduled Tuesday to
consider a renewal of the marine-mammal reserve designation for Seal Rock. Seal
conservationists want the reserve extended to include Children's Pool, while
those who want to see the beach returned to the people want to end the
designation.
But moving the seals could be tricky, and it might be considered a violation
of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. "Our policy is that we don't
encourage cities to allow seals and sea lions to establish a beachhead,"
said Joseph Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries
Service. "Once they do take hold, the act protects them, and there's very
little you could do to get rid of them."
Posted March 30, 2003
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