People, please behave.
With that admonishment, the San Diego City Council yesterday agreed to install a temporary rope barrier to separate beachgoers from nursing harbor seals at the Children's Pool in La Jolla.
Voting 7-1, the council approved a policy to cordon off the western end of the beach every Jan. 1 to May 1 to keep people a safe distance from the seals. For this year, the rope will be put up on or about Monday, parks officials said yesterday.
The city had not intended to install the barrier this pupping season until federal wildlife officials last month sent a letter urging San Diego to close the beach or install the rope.
Council President Scott Peters, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the rope barrier isn't necessary because it's not the seals who are being harassed.
“The problem out there is human versus human,” he said.
Peters was referring to the catcalls and threats often hurled between pro-seal advocates and local residents who believe the pinnipeds are a nuisance.
Although she supported the rope barrier, Councilwoman Donna Frye said she, too, is disappointed by uncivil behavior among the pro-seal and anti-seal factions.
“I hope the humans can be more respectful, not only of the seals but of each other,” Frye said.
Nearly 30 people turned out to urge the council to draw a line in the sand to protect the seals.
They complained that neither city lifeguards nor federal wildlife agents were issuing citations to people who are harassing the seals and scaring them into the water.
“This is definitely a compromise solution,” said Bruce Reznik of San Diego Oceankeeper, an environmental group sympathetic to the seals.
About a half-dozen opponents showed up to argue that the region's population of harbor seals is thriving and does not need any special protection.
La Jolla resident Richard Guarascio warned the council that any actions encouraging the seals to congregate at the cove would expose swimmers, surfers and divers to attacks by predatory sharks.
“The city has set up a feeding station for great white sharks,” Guarascio said.
In response to numerous allegations that the seals were being intentionally harassed, federal officials in April 2005 installed two 24-hour surveillance cameras to monitor the cove.
From 1999 to 2004, San Diego had used a rope barrier at the beach. The city removed it after the council adopted a “shared use” policy allowing people unfettered access to the beach, which had been closed due to bacteria pollution from the seals' waste.
Terry Rodgers: (619) 542-4566; terry.rodgers@uniontrib.com
