San Diego officials introduced an update to the city’s plan to temporarily close Point La Jolla, with a new closure boundary providing better access to adjacent Boomer Beach.

The update, presented at the January 13 meeting of the La Jolla City Council, was based on feedback since the city first presented at a meeting of the La Jolla Community Planning Association a week earlier. early.

The closure would take effect each year between June 1 and October 31, during recognized sea lion whelping season, to separate humans and sea lions amid ongoing reports of people disturbing or harming the animals in Point La Jolla, a rocky area between La Jolla Cove Beach and Boomer Beach where sea lions rest and give birth.

The seasonal closure would mirror the 2021 emergency closure from August 11 to September 15.

San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, said the seasonal closure plan aims to ensure “a safe environment for visitors and sea lions,” with the help of participation public.

“We are ensuring that this is a science-based solution and we are relying on the technical and expert advice of a marine biologist to develop this seasonal closure plan,” he said.

LaCava said that within a week of the LJCPA meeting, the closure plan was updated to reflect feedback from meetings with interested parties, letters from the LJCPA and other inputs.

“We’ve heard the message loud and clear that ocean access through Boomer Beach is important. … We are adjusting the border for safer access in this area,” he said.

The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Karen Dennison showed a map similar to the one presented at the January 6 LJCPA meeting, updated with a yellow line (the previously scheduled closure area is shown in red) to indicate that the city is “now looking at reducing the area of ​​closure to … provide better access to Boomer Beach.

Dennison said the closure would be implemented with more park rangers.

Currently, she said, the Department of Parks and Recreation has two full-time park rangers who are tasked with patrolling 26 miles of shoreline. The department has received “additional staff resources” to provide five full-time coast guards, which means one or two will be stationed daily at Point La Jolla, “whether or not a closure is in place,” a- she declared.

Dennison said rangers will likely start in the spring and primarily educate people on shoreline rules and conduct and “document any instances where there are [are] problematic encounters involving sea lions and humans.

The closure plan will also involve physical barriers like those used in last year’s emergency closure, including chains and a plastic K-rail. Dennison said the current plan would install two K-rails on the Boomer Beach border.

Beach access and sea lion advocates provided input during public comments.

Access advocates have called for environmental impact studies on water quality and the effects of sea lions on the local ecology.

LaCava said, “Federal and state agencies … assess marine protected areas and coastal conservation areas. We seek to engage and share a local voice in this process to assess marine ecology along the La Jolla coastline.

Local resident Kurt Hoffman said, “The water quality is terrible at La Jolla Cove. I no longer swim at La Jolla Cove. I rarely bodysurf on Boomer Beach because the water quality is very poor. … The amount of feces, the amount of urine that these sea lions produce affects the environment.

Resident and bodysurfer Durdam Rocherolle said sea lions “just need to live in the wild”. Human efforts to create a safe zone for them is “playing with nature”, Rocherolle said. “None of the people accessing Boomer are harassing or endangering these animals. Were not [sea lion] hateful.

Robyn Davidoff, a Sierra Club Seal Society docent, asked how the city plans to “protect newborn sea lion babies with the adjusted closure line allowing better access to Boomer Beach.”

Later, in a statement to La Jolla Light, Davidoff wrote that the Seal Society “strongly [opposes] proposed new boundary lines presented at the meeting. … This new frontier is ill-conceived and apparently based on a week’s worth of survey data. We have provided photographic evidence and birth records showing that over 20 sea lion cubs were born on Boomer Beach in 2021. They use the entire area for birthing, nursing, swimming lessons and mating . The extension of the border promotes and encourages continued harassment of sea lions and hatchlings and will likely increase pup mortality.

During the meeting, Seal Society guide Carol Archibald said she was “quite upset about the yellow line” because baby sea lions need uninterrupted access to the beach while they learn to swim.

Jonathan Harrison, a La Jolla resident and Seal Society volunteer, said, “We need to focus on ecotourism. Visitors and locals want sea lions to be protected from harassment and irresponsible tourism.

LaCava said feedback will continue to be incorporated into future versions of the closure plan, which is to be presented next at the La Jolla Parks and Beaches meeting on Monday, Jan. 24.

Dennison said comments can be given through the city’s website for the plan (sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/point-lajolla) or by email at [email protected] ◆