CoastWatcher

As the author below indicates, our California Supreme Court last week condoned a lower court decision requiring the City of San Diego to seek permission to dredge a sandy beach for the express purpose of destroying a harbor seal colony and driving out or killing the seals living there. ‘Children’s Pool’ as the beach is known, is one of the most popular seal haul out areas in all of California, drawing thousands of human visitors annually. You can see pictures of the seals at www.cacoast.org/9531 and at http://www.oceanlight.com/lightbox.php?x=la_jolla_seals_/_childrens_pool__san_diego__california__usa__location&pg=5a

The problem for the City of San Diego is that BOTH federal and California law explicitly prohibit destruction of marine mammals and the environmentally sensitive habitat areas they require for their survival. So the Court, without consideration of the broader legal issues, has ordered the City of San Diego to spend millions of dollars studying and pursuing a course of action that will ultimately be denied by either the federal government or California State Lands Commission or the California Coastal Commission or any number of wildlife and/or natural resource protection agencies.

What to do then? It has been suggested that the City ask the State Legislature to take over the beach itself, like most other beaches in California. The City might also do an environmental analysis and find that it is either illegal to dredge the beach or that it won’t result in the seals being destroyed anyway and is therefore useless. Or the City may do the studies and apply to the Coastal Commission and other agencies for approval to destroy the beach….stay tuned.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-dawn4dec04,0,7185189.story?coll=la-news-comment
Los Angeles Times
The choice isn’t seals or people
By Karen Dawn

December 4, 2007

Last week, the state Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling requiring the city of San Diego to dredge a beach in La Jolla. Dredging the beach will disperse a resident colony of harbor seals. The ruling was in accordance with the terms of a trust transferring ownership of the cove from the state to the city of San Diego. The trust required the city to maintain the cove as a swimming beach for children; the seals, it was argued, make the conditions unsanitary. But that contract was made in 1931, decades before the seals settled in the cove and at a time when there was a lot less competition for beach space in Southern California.

The way this battle has been played in the media, it’s a people versus animals conflict. A United Press International headline announced, “Ruling Favors Humans in SoCal Beach Flap.” Yet the article told us that “the situation pitted animal rights activists who wanted the seals left alone against city residents.” Which group did the headline deem human? Apparently if you’re a Californian who has enjoyed watching the seals socializing on the beach in La Jolla — if you are sorry to see the seals go — your humanity is in question because you’re an animal rights activist. Read the rest of this entry »