La Jolla Cove would be closed to beachgoers but remain open to swimmers from June through mid-September under a proposal from the La Jolla Parks & Beaches Commission, the first formal restriction plan to emerge from months of debate over protecting the Cove's sea lion colony.
The five-member volunteer board floated the water-only access idea Tuesday, Aug. 25, at a packed community meeting where more than a dozen speakers clashed over how to protect more than 300 sea lions that use the 140-foot beach during pupping season, NBC San Diego reported.
The proposal is framed as a compromise: beachgoers would be kept off the sand, but swimmers, snorkelers and other ocean users could still enter the water.
According to NBC San Diego's report, city council representatives at the meeting said enforcement remains complicated because sea lions are federally protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, making violations a federal matter enforced by NOAA rather than city park rangers. Rangers currently can issue only verbal warnings.
A summer of pressure
The meeting followed a summer of escalating incidents and political pressure. Tyler Muehl, an 18-year-old La Jolla resident, pleaded guilty on Aug. 13 to violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act after a viral video showed him kicking a sea lion at the Cove. He faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine at his Oct. 20 sentencing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt.
Since June, 56 sea lion pups have been born at La Jolla Cove, but six have died there and two more at Point La Jolla. The Seal Society of San Diego estimates pup mortality at the Cove at 43% this season, compared to 6% at the permanently closed Point La Jolla site, according to Times of San Diego.
More than 23,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Cove's closure.
Voices from the room
Speakers at the Aug. 25 meeting split sharply. One called for requiring tour buses to educate passengers before dropping them at the Cove. A former marine biologist displayed 80,000-year-old sea lion fossils found above the beach, arguing the animals predate human use of the area.
"I know a lot of you say you've been swimming since 1979. Guess what? They've been here longer. They belong. They should not be removed," the biologist told the crowd.
Where officials stand
Council President Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes the Cove, has opposed a full closure. "For me, La Jolla Cove is too iconic, too historic to cut off access," LaCava said in an Aug. 17 Fox 5 San Diego report. But he acknowledged limits to the city's approach, telling Times of San Diego on Aug. 23: "Yelling at people apparently is not enough, even with the megaphone … How can we give our park rangers some kind of civil citation?"
At the state level, California Coastal Commissioner Matt O'Malley said at an Aug. 14 meeting in Santa Cruz that "a partial closure is really the only way to deal with the issue until the city can get their program implementation figured out …"
Parks & Beaches Commission president Ann Dynes described the situation as a "stalemate" at the board's July 27 meeting, noting "too many animals and some unfortunate people that are doing nasty things."
The commission's proposal has no binding authority. It must go to the San Diego City Council for formal action, and no vote has been scheduled.
