Personal watercraft tours of La Jolla’s state-protected coastal waters have sparked environmental concerns and will be a major topic of discussion at next month’s La Jolla Shores Association (LJSA) meeting on April 13 at 7 p.m. The tours, which started earlier this month, take a group of four to five multi-passenger Yamaha Wave Runners from Seaforth Boat Rentals’ Mission Bay location early on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The tours travel one to two miles out to sea, continuing up the coast past La Jolla Cove before turning around and heading back to Mission Bay. An ad for the tour caught the eye of an LJSA member last month, who then brought the issue before the board’s meeting on March 9, said Joe Dicks, the association’s outgoing president. Dicks said he has three problems with the tours. First, running personal watercraft through a generally sensitive marine habitat could be detrimental. Second, the tours could bring about the possibility of bothering marine mammals like seals and dolphins. Finally, the jet skis could potentially interfere with swimmers, divers and kayakers. “We are going to investigate with the various agencies that have jurisdiction over that area to see whether it is an allowable use,” Dicks said. “How can this activity be appropriate in this kind of sensitive area?” LJSA members are concerned because this route takes personal watercraft through the heart of La Jolla’s recently expanded Marine Protected Area (MPA). According to the website of San Diego Coastkeeper, an environmental organization that was a leading force in lobbying to expand these marine reserves, an MPA is “like a savings account for the ocean” — a little bit of the sea that is set aside to let it recuperate and recharge. Mary Coakley, who will be retaking a seat on the LJSA board in April, said that while she didn’t want to “make pre-judgments,” it is something the board needs to consider. Nevertheless, she said the LJSA needs to find out more about the operation before it decides on a course of action. “I don’t think the fact finding has even begun, we just received the request to discuss the issue. I have not talked to Seaforth and have no idea of what their plan is,” Coakley said. “It doesn’t sound generally good, but maybe they have found a way to make it work. I don’t know.” David Kurtz, president of Seaforth Boat Rentals, said the concerns of the group are “100 percent misguided.” He said the company designed the tours specifically not to interfere with any of the other uses taking place in the Cove or along the shoreline. “We will have no impact as opposed to kayaks or fishermen or anyone else in the Cove,” he said. “All we will do is look at [the La Jolla coastline].” The tours take place more than a mile offshore, Kurtz said. Also, Seaforth is using newer Yamaha Wave Runner models with four-stroke engines, he said, which radically cut down on pollution compared to older two-stroke engine personal watercraft. Kurtz said tour leaders are all U.S. Coast Guard-certified boat captains, have first aid and CPR training and carry all the appropriate navigation, safety and communications equipment to deal with emergency situations on the water. “Whenever you say ‘La Jolla’ and ‘jet skis’ you get people who are concerned,” he said. “I’ve been in business and doing this for 30 years, and we have a great safety record and rapport with the public, and I certainly wouldn’t do anything to damage that.” At this point it is unclear what, if anything, can be done to stop the tours, should that be the direction that the LJSA decides to take. The south La Jolla coast was named a “state marine conservation area” form of an MPA. According to Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, boating is a permitted activity in these areas, although people or groups can petition for specific prohibitions on a case-by-case basis. Kate Hanley, conservation director for San Diego Coastkeeper, said she understands LJSA members’ concerns, but doesn’t think the tours violate laws governing the MPAs. She said Seaforth representatives worked with Coastkeeper on creating the protected area. “There’s nothing in the law that says you can’t drive a jet ski across it,” Hanley said. The south La Jolla MPA overlaps an existing designation of an Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as part of the California “Ocean Plan.” These designations together prevent a host of activities, including fishing or other harvesting or industrial activities. They also heavily regulate pollution runoff into the sea. Hanley said the ASBS is the area of particular concern to Coastkeeper and environmentalists, especially regarding discharge and water quality issues. The SWRCB allows no discharge into an ASBS, however board spokesman David Clegern said the SWRCB does not control boat discharge. “The state water board’s authority generally ends at the shoreline when it comes to pollution sources,” said Clegern. “The Ocean Plan is not currently applicable to vessel wastes, so it doesn’t appear we can prohibit personal watercraft in an ASBS.”